The Videl Satan School for Martial Arts
by Team Dragon Star
Summary: When a ploy to discover whether the new kid actually is Saiyaman backfires on her, Videl takes it upon herself to teach him self-defence. The only problem? Son Gohan's been the strongest person alive since he defeated Cell seven years ago.
1. Chapter 1

Son Gohan was Saiyaman.

Videl was the type of person who trusted her gut, and for the past week it might as well have been lurching out of her body to explain why it was so obvious that a new guy and _two_ superheroes don't debut on the same day by coincidence.

She'd watched his movements carefully for the past few days. Aside from not knowing a thing about her father and his conquest against Cell - which Videl figured was because he was a typical secluded country bumpkin - she had seen him take a baseball to the face without flinching and jump what must have been _twenty_ metres to make a catch. He also had roughly the same build and height as Saiyaman from what she could tell, though the fluttering red cape and ridiculous orange helmet made it difficult to know for sure.

From her few encounters with the 'superhero', Saiyaman seemed like a pretty dorky guy. Gohan seemed like a pretty nerdy guy. There was only so much Videl, as an aspiring detective, was willing to brush off as mere happenstance.

She had presented her theory to Erasa, hoping that the blonde would live up to her reputation as a gossip queen and provide some information which would help to validate it. Unfortunately, she had merely rolled her eyes and asked if their dreamy history teacher bored her _that_ much while he was droning on about some revolution that happened three hundred years ago. Honestly, Videl hadn't known what she was expecting. Erasa would probably think it was a good thing some crime-fighting vigilante wannabe was ten lockers away.

With Erasa ruled out, she had been left with one of two options: to consult her only other real friend, Sharpner, or to get the new boy to spill the beans. And in the end, she'd realised that hadn't even really been a choice in the first place.

He must have caught on because he'd been ducking and dodging her all day. In Chemistry, she had partnered up with him and he had spilled his beaker all over his pants purposely to avoid her. Since he was the genius new kid who could do no wrong, the teacher hadn't thought twice of letting him run off to the bathroom even though she had spent the entire semester giving her grief about having to take off to help the chief in the middle of class.

It meant he was nervous, that he was on edge. And that had to mean there was something there for him to feel nervous about. Videl was all for 'innocent until proven guilty' but as far as she was concerned, at the moment there was a smoking gun being held firmly by Son Gohan's right hand.

It was no matter, though. He could run and hide all he wanted. She would still catch him in the act: after all, what kind of detective would she make if she couldn't catch an amateur right in front of her? She knew the route that he took home. She'd followed him just the other day but he had managed to shake her off unexpectedly. Not this time though. He was a new kid so that meant he probably only knew the one way to get home.

So like last time, she waited for him with her arms crossed under her chest on the school roof. She waited for him to hesitate suddenly, to pause as he all but _sensed_ her presence and turn around. She gave him enough time to get halfway down the stairs and remember the route to the other take off spot he liked to use. And then she pursued him, swift but cautious as she leaped down the staircase, all the while keeping far enough away that she wouldn't give anything away but staying close enough to make sure there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell she would lose him again.

It was foolproof, really. There was no possible way Saiyaman wouldn't spend his evening handcuffed, being driven to headquarters in the back of the chief's van as he stared longingly at the floor in regret.

Or at least there hadn't been until a particularly thuggish member of the Red Shark Gang rocked up with two buddies and told Gohan to put his hands in the air and lose the bag as well as any other valuables he had on him. She couldn't tell why they wanted his hands up - there wasn't a gun in sight between the three of them - but she had long ago realised to not give gang members too much credit. For a "geek", to quote Sharpner, Gohan was remarkably cool under pressure. His body didn't tremble and he didn't seem overly eager to comply with the thugs' demands.

"Are you deaf you stupid kid?" asked the de-facto head honcho. "Lose the bag, your wallet and that fancy little watch you're wearing or we're gonna have problems."

Videl took the time out to note that Gohan wore a strange, antique-looking watch. She hadn't noticed that before and that was cause for a little concern given that if she had stalked him any more during the past few days, he would have had cause to take out a restraining order on her. Shrugging to herself, she forced back her almost palpable desire to intervene as she made sure she had a front row seat to the confrontation; old habits died hard. However, having undeniable proof that the new guy was indeed Saiyaman was far more important.

Gohan seemed uncomfortable. Well, uncomfortable in a different way to the type of uncomfortable someone normally felt when they were getting jumped by a bunch of low-life criminals. Videl wasn't entirely sure how she was able to make that distinction in the first place but there was no mistaking it. He refused to meet the would-be robbers' eyes, outright ignoring them as he stared at the ground. If Videl didn't know better, she would have said that he was weighing up the pros and cons of a fairly large dilemma. His posture didn't change but after a few moments, he looked up to meet the leader's eye, his previous crisis seemingly resolved.

"I-I can't do that," said Gohan as his voice faltered. It was obviously an effect that he had added to his voice on purpose; a real falter under the circumstances wouldn't be so exaggerated and clear… but there was no way he could see her from her position hidden across the street, so why was he deliberately acting weak? "You see the watch is very important to me and my mother spent last season's harvest on my laptop, so she would kill me if I lost it."

"Is this some kind of a joke to you? I'll kill you if you don't lose it," exclaimed the ringleader. He brandished a fist threateningly. "I'm not lookin' for much trouble brat but I'll put you in hospital if I need to."

"I guess we have a conflict of interests then," Gohan said meekly. He explained further, as though he were helping Erasa with a physics problem, upon seeing the perplexed look upon the ringleader's face. "You want to take my possessions from me. I don't want to give them up."

"I don't speak nerd-talk so I'm just gonna take that as you tellin' me to come at ya," said the ringleader. "Hold him still. Let's see if we can't make our friend here change his mind." His two cronies grabbed an arm each and pulled, leaving Gohan wide open.

Videl smirked. This was it. The idiot would come charging at Gohan who would swing his foot up and somersault off the leader's head, before smacking the two cronies heads against each other and completing his flip. It was simple really, Videl had executed the very move hundreds of times before, and though it wasn't exactly something to be proud of, Saiyaman probably possessed more upper body strength than her so it would be child's play for the plains-clothes superhero.

The leader brushed his knuckles with his opposing fingers as he took a step forward. "Don't say I didn't warn ya," he said as he stripped his leather Red Shark Gang jacket off and swung it over his left shoulder. "I wouldn't wanna get blood all over it."

Videl's eyelids narrowed into slits as she clenched her fists, watching nervously as the gangster's fist got ever closer to Gohan's face. And it was only in that moment that she began to realise how stupid her whole plan was. What if Gohan wasn't Saiyaman?

She didn't have time to dwell on that thought and how she wasn't the type of person to put innocents at risk because Gohan's faced rocked backwards as the leader made clean contact with his jaw. It was more than enough to send the poor boy sprawling to the ground. He might have screamed but Videl couldn't tell because her chest was thumping so quick that it drowned out all the sound in the world.

Forcing herself to calm down and take a few deep breaths, Videl's pandemonium quickly turned to simple confusion. The gangster was hissing in pain as he clutched the hand that he had punched Gohan with. Before she had the time to figure out just why he was doing that, she was forced into action as he started stomping on Gohan's chest.

She crossed the street and knocked the two cronies to the ground in a heartbeat. As for the leader, he was left so open as he nursed his injured hand and stomped on her new classmate that knocking him out with a swift punch to the head was easy. She returned to the two grunts, smashing their heads together and granting them passage to join their leader in unconsciousness, before circling back to attend to Gohan.

He was clearly hurt but it didn't seem as though too much damage had been done. There was blood, of course, but at this stage in her crimefighting career, Videl had long since become desensitised towards the red liquid. His eyes were still open, he was breathing and he was rubbing his bleeding jaw gingerly. After making sure that that was the full extent of his injuries, Videl helped him to his feet. Thankfully, she had experience with lifting objects much heavier than she was, because she didn't think she would have been able to pull him up if she weren't a martial artist.

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to get here any quicker," Videl said guiltily. She made sure not to say anything that would give away that she could have intervened the whole time but on the inside she was fuming. What kind of an idiot was she? She'd just let a completely innocent classmate get hurt _on purpose_!

"Oh there was nothing you could have done," said Gohan sheepishly as he continued to rub his jaw. "That guy sure packed a mean punch though."

Inwardly, Videl was tempted to point out that the thug reacted as though he had broken his hand by striking Gohan's jaw. "I'll bet," she ultimately decided on saying. "You've probably not been in too many fights before so that must have been much more painful than you'd expect. I'm glad you're not hurt _too_ bad though; I'm no doctor but I'd wager that since you're able to talk nothing is broken."

"Heh you're right about that, although I once had to wrestle with a bear cub after it stole one of my history books," explained Gohan with a chuckle. "Thanks for your help though, Videl. I better head home so I can put some ice on my jaw… my mum might just finish the job if I come back late in this state."

 _'He sure has a lot of excuses to get home,'_ Videl thought before shaking her head and placing her hands on her hips. "No way, mister. I've called in for backup to take these guys to the station and you're coming with me to get yourself checked out. We'll need to complete a victim report too."

"Oh right," he laughed stupidly as he hung both arms behind his neck as though he hadn't just experienced an injury that'd have any normal person crying. "He did also stomp on my chest a few times," Gohan pointed out.

Videl winced shamefully. If only she had reacted sooner, or just been less suspicious, this never would've happened to Gohan.

"Yeah, I saw that right as I arrived on the scene," she told him, still a little appalled with herself. If the damage had been any more serious, she would only have her ego to blame. This Saiyaman character was suspicious but putting innocent people in harm's way just because she felt she worked better alone was terrible in hindsight. "Let me just wait for backup to get here so they can cuff these guys and arrest them. In the meantime, why don't you recline the seat back in my jetcopter and lie down? I know it's not fantastic but it's probably better than lying on the sidewalk like you've just been shot."

She twinged a little bit, realising that things could have been a whole lot worse if the thugs were armed.

"Actually, that'd be great," said Gohan. "As much as I don't want to get blood all over your seat, I could really use a bit of rest while we're waiting."

"Whatever," shrugged Videl as she tossed her jetcopter's capsule on the floor. "If you fall asleep, I'll wake you up when we get to the station." A yellow jetcopter with 'Satan' inscribed on its side emerged from the smoke.

Still nursing the side of his face, Gohan climbed into the passenger seat of the jetcopter and lounged against the back of the seat. The blood that had settled about his jaw looked to be drying. He'd purposely relaxed his side against the cushion of her seat, propping himself into a position that looked a little unnatural. She figured it was so that he didn't strain his injured chest any further; from the looks of it, it would be purple in colour for the next few days.

She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she missed when he began to doze off. Protocol dictated that officers were meant to keep people who had suffered injuries conscious where possible but Videl's mind was elsewhere at the moment. She was well into her thoughts, wondering how she could possibly make it up to Gohan, when her fellow officers arrived on the scene. Before she knew it, she was being ushered off to fly back to the station.

…

Videl gently shook Gohan awake.

"Are you going to be able to get up yourself or am I going to have to carry you?" she asked after a moment. Carrying anyone of his body stature would be an uphill battle. "I promise you won't have to walk too much."

"I should be fine," he said as he stirred from his slumber. They had reached the station without further incident so all that was left was for Videl to get Gohan checked out and for her to 'officially' ask him a few questions.

"For what it's worth, you've got guts," said Videl as she guided him out of her jetcopter. "Sharpner might give you a hard time at school but I have a feeling he'd be balling his eyes out if he had to take such a beating."

"I'm fine, really," replied Gohan as he rubbed the back of his head with a grin. "I grew up in the mountains so I had my fair share of scrapes and bruises as a kid. You city folk are too sheltered."

As Videl contemplated the irony of his statement, she grabbed his arm and draped it over her far shoulder. She imagined that the pair of them looked rather comical as she helped him walk into the station given that he was a good twenty centimetres taller than her but appearances had always been the last of Videl's concerns.

"Chief, I've got a victim in here for a statement. He's a little banged up so could we get him patched up before we start with the questions?" asked Videl once she had stepped into the station.

"Oh that's too bad; the fellas just went out on break. I guess I can try and do a job myself since it was going to be my field of expertise once upon a time," said the whiskered police chief before taking a moment to polish the rims of his glasses with his handkerchief. "Go on ahead, I'll be right with the two of ya."

"Are you sure you're okay with not going to a hospital first, Gohan?" asked Videl. "Filing a report's important and everything but it can wait. I'd much rather get you checked out by a real doctor than just shrug it off - sometimes you don't feel the true extent of your injuries after an altercation like that until a few hours later."

"Actually, I think that since I dosed off the adrenaline isn't masking much pain anymore," said Gohan. "I can't move my jaw all that freely and my chest's a little sore but I'm alright otherwise."

"Alright then. Follow me, I suppose," said Videl as she led him to the first-aid room.

The police chief joined them after a minute or two of waiting. He proceeded to inspect Gohan's jaw and chest before asking the adolescent a few questions. Finally, he gave the high schoolers his diagnosis.

"Seems like you've lucked out, young man," said the chief. "No permanent damage. I'll help you clean some of the blood off and give you some ice for that jaw. I'd advise that you refrain from undertaking strenuous activities for the next few days because I can assure you that your chest is going to be quite sore in the morning."

Videl sighed in relief. "I'll grab the wet wipes," she said before proceeding to reach into a cupboard and pull out a mini-pack of medical wipes. She handed a wipe to the chief who used it to remove the dried blood which had caked itself over Gohan's jaw.

"Uhh thank you," Gohan stated. "I'm sorry to bother you like this."

"Please, this beats looking over complaints about parking tickets any day," said the chief before he grabbed an ice pack from a nearby mini-freezer. "Stick this where it hurts and hold it there. It should help with the pain and the swelling but only if you get to it before it starts to balloon up."

"Right," agreed Gohan, seemingly over eager to take on the chief's advice. "I'll have to fly home in my jet-copter but I should be able to sandwich it in between my neck and my jawline as I fly."

"Well, we can't let you go and pilot an aircraft in good faith like that," said Videl. "Where abouts do you live again? I can drop you home after we get some information out of ya and fill out the rest of the report later?"

"I'll leave you two youngsters to sort that out amongst yourselves. Damn ticket disputes aren't going to resolve themselves," said the chief with a shake of his head. "You'll be able to take care of things from here right, Videl?"

"You can count on me, chief," Videl affirmed with a nod. "I'd end up making a pretty bad police officer if I can't file a report on an incident I was a witness to."

"Alright, best of luck to the both of you," the chief replied before giving the two a wry grin. "Now don't be getting up to anything naughty back here. Every young cop thinks this room is the perfect spot to impress because it seems so innocuous and out of the way but you can hear the moaning down the entire hallway."

With that, the aging veteran left, leaving a blushing Videl and a completely oblivious Gohan in his stead.

"What did he mean by that?" asked Gohan to no-one in particular.

"Never mind," said Videl as she ran a gloved hand along her forehead and up through her hair. "So what were you… uh doing before those thugs appeared in front of you?" After his pitiful display against the members of the Red Shark Gang, Videl knew there was no conceivable way that Gohan could possibly be Saiyaman, but that still didn't explain why it felt that Gohan had been trying to avoid her for the past few days.

"I was just trying to make my way home. I would have taken off from the roof at school but… I noticed that my jet-copter was low on fuel so I was just making my way over to get it filled up." The boy finished with an unconvincing laugh.

"And then those gang members told you to hand all your valuables over?" asked Videl to which she received a nod. "Alright, now describe what happened next for me?"

"I refused," said Gohan. "I kinda regret it in hindsight but I didn't want to just hand over my belongings like that, especially since I know how hard mum worked to buy them in the first place."

Videl grinned a little. "Well hey, you might be a little beat up but you managed to hold onto them in the end didn't you?"

"I guess so." He rubbed the back of his head with a smile before wincing again.

"Now tell me exactly how you got those injuries, if you remember," said Videl. "The more detail you can give us, the better chance we have of finding another charge to nab them with."

"I remember the guy in charge socking me pretty bad in the jaw but not much else after that," said Gohan. "It was all a blur really. They must have stomped on my chest because that hurts but I was on the ground before I could blink. And then you came flying in to save the day."

Videl nodded. "It's not as much as I'd hoped for - no offence to you and all that - but it'll do. Thanks for coming back with me and sitting through all these questions; I know it's probably the last thing you want to do with half your body aching like no tomorrow."

"I should be thanking you really," said Gohan. "I'd have been toast if you hadn't shown up. Somehow I don't think those thugs would have been stopped there."

Videl cleared her throat. "About that… I think I have an idea that will help you out going forward."

"I'm all ears," said Gohan before rubbing the back of his head again. "Anything that stops me from getting into trouble with criminals is welcome."

"I'm going to train you, teach you some basic self defense," said Videl. "I can't in good conscience let a friend commute such long distances without even knowing how to throw a punch."

"W-What?" Gohan asked before he could regain his composure. "Oh you've got it all wrong. I normally don't run into any trouble when I'm flying back home, honestly. Since I'm all safe up in my jet-copter, I don't have to worry about criminals getting to me."

"Carrying a jet-copter on your person is reason enough to make you a target for most petty thieves," explained Videl. "I won't always be lurking around by chance to come and save you. And besides, it'll help the next time you have to wrestle a bear cub."

"I see you're not planning on taking no for an answer," said Gohan.

"Not a chance."

"Well, then, I suppose it couldn't hurt," said Gohan with a nervous smile. "Are you sure it's a good idea to put more strain on my body with the injuries I've already sustained, though?"

"Well obviously I'm not suggesting that we get started this very moment," said Videl matter-of-factly. "We can start with some theory first - something that a brainy guy like you will appreciate, I'm sure - and then transition into the lighter stuff. There's more to fighting than simply clobbering your opponent."

Gohan sighed, undoubtedly realising that there was no way he would be allowed to squirm out of this. "Sounds great."

"Now that we're all done here at the station, why don't you give me an address so that I can key that into the navigation system on my jet-copter?" asked Videl before placing a hand on his shoulder. "Look, you don't need to feel worried. I'm just going to teach you how to handle yourself, not prepare you for the next World Martial Arts Tournament."

"Uhh it's less of an address and more of a general direction," said Gohan as he sagged his shoulders.

…

Gohan let out a sigh of relief while he waved goodbye to his new _friend_ as she took off in her jet copter. By some small miracle, she'd decided that since the return flight to Satan City would take the better part of three hours, she couldn't come inside.

He waltzed through the front door and straight into the kitchen, having worked up an appetite over the course of the day. Chichi was busy cooking and Goten had already started digging into his dinner.

"There you are!" she exclaimed upon seeing him. "You had me worried si- what happened to your face?"

"I kinda had to punch myself in the face quicker than the human eye can see a few times to avoid revealing my powers to a classmate," said Gohan as he rubbed his bruised jaw for good measure.

It had just been one of those days.

…

 **This chapter was brought to you by Kakarot Son and Darkvoid116. Also many thanks go out to CloakSky for drawing the beautiful cover image and coming up with the initial prompt for the story.**

 **Team Dragon Star is a collaborative effort headed by different writers who work together to bring you stories like this one. If you would like to join, visit our forums and apply there. It presents a great opportunity to further your own writing skills and join a community.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Make sure you don't telegraph your attack. Keep your opponent guessing," Videl instructed. "A punch that can be easily avoided is useless. Like I said before, there's more to it than just making contact."

"I see what you mean," said Gohan as he frowned. Somehow, Videl's explanation left something to be desired. He blamed Piccolo. "I don't see how this is going to help, though. I can't imagine ever wanting to punch someone."

"Self-defense," Videl answered for what felt like the tenth time. She even groaned in frustration. "You can't just dance around your opponents forever; sooner or later you have to strike back. Although, I get the feeling that you wouldn't lay a hand on a fly unless you had to."

"I guess I'm just not very confrontational," responded Gohan. "I suppose that didn't do me a lot of good the other day."

It had been three days since Gohan had the misfortune of running into a group of thugs with his own personal stalker watching in the distance and it was back to business as usual. When donning his Saiyaman suit and fighting crime, he made sure not to get too close to Videl because the bruising along his jawline hadn't fully vanished and the last thing he wanted to do was make the girl any more suspicious.

"It's okay. I can work with that," said Videl, limbering her upper body up as she stretched. "I'm not doing this for me, after all. So are you ready for a bit of a practical demonstration?"

"I guess," he said with an unconvinced smile.

"Don't worry, I'll pull my punches." Videl laughed upon seeing the expression on his face. "I'm not a complete psycho, y'know. It's only been a few days since you got hurt."

"Thanks?"

Videl took that as her cue. She stepped forward and made a big show of settling into a stance before she reached out with her right fist and gently thwacked Gohan on his shoulder.

"Ouch, I understand that one crook's plight now," Videl remarked as she retracted her fist. "What are your bones made out of? Steel?"

"Mum always made me, uh, eat my vegetables," said Gohan lamely as his hand fell back into a familiar position behind his head.

"Anyway, my point still stands," said Videl, taking a moment to confirm that no-one could see them up on the school rooftop. It wasn't that she cared what others thought, but rather that it could prove problematic if someone were to get the wrong idea; a new rumour could work itself through the high school grapevine in no time at all. "Did you see how even though you knew I was going to hit you, I didn't show where by charging at you with an already outstretched fist?'

Gohan nodded. "That's just common sense, though, don't you think?"

"Okay then, mister," Videl said as she placed her hands on her hips. "Why don't you show me what your punch looks like then?"

Gohan inwardly cursed. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I wouldn't want to hurt you. I mean, no offence, but you're a fair bit… tinier than me."

"So you think I'm too short to be a good fighter?" asked Videl as the distance between the two shrank, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"No, tha-"

"Relax, I'm just screwing with you," Videl laughed. "I don't mind people underestimating me because it's more advantageous to be the underdog. My favourite thing about martial arts is that it doesn't matter what your opponent thinks of you as long as you can sweep them off their feet and land a solid blow to their chest."

"Why would people underestimate you?" asked Gohan. "I mean, you're Mr. Satan's daughter and you've been helping out the police for years, so they've got to know you mean business."

"Beats me." Videl shrugged. "Anyway, are you going to try and throw a punch my way or not?"

"L-Like a real pun-"

"Yes," Videl cut him off. "Really, you said it yourself. I've been fighting criminals for years, Gohan. I'm one girl that you're more than welcome to take a swing at."

Gohan gulped before taking a step back to give himself a bit of a run-up. He charged at her, his fist already cocked back before punching at the space beside Videl's head. Unfortunately, he punched a little too quickly and in Videl's attempt to dodge his blow, the side of his knuckle bristled against her ear and a few strands of hair.

 _'_ _Too close for comfort,'_ he decided. He would need to do something about his strength lest he hurt the girl. It was like trying to swat a fly, but not crush it, while moving at the speed of light.

Videl didn't seem to notice his dilemma. "Not bad considering that's probably the first time you've raised a fist towards anyone."

She took his hand, the silky smooth skin of her fingers a sharp contrast to the roughness of her fingerless gloves, and adjusted his arm's position. "Don't go into the punch with your arm pulled back like this."

Gohan's face flushed at the contact. He gazed towards the sky, trying to avoid eye contact as Videl demonstrated how to hold his forearm back. Even though it was far from the first time Gohan had had physical contact with a girl, there was an element of intimacy at play that was completely foreign to the young Saiyan.

"Hey, are you paying attention?" she asked, snapping her fingers to draw Gohan's attention back towards her. "You need to try and keep your fists in front of your chest before moving them forward. Cocking your first back near your shoulder like some kind of comic book character just limits your mobility."

She let go of him before drawing her fists in front of her own body. She bounced on the balls of her feet before reaching out and gently rapping a set of knuckles on his stomach and right cheek respectively. "This way I can go high or low when I hit you."

"I think I get it," said Gohan as he took the chance to observe the girl in front of him. She was about his mum's height and seemed to keep in pretty decent shape - well, for a regular person, anyway. She had black hair that was framed into two ever-present pigtails and a rounder face than what he remembered. Gohan was well-read enough to understand that at his age attraction to another person was entirely normal, but that knowledge didn't help him navigate the feeling welling up in his stomach.

"Alright," said Videl with a nod. "Show me what you can do one last time before we'll call it a day. West City wasn't built in a day, after all."

That gave Gohan an idea.

…

"I need a favour," Gohan said as he found himself rubbing the back of his head uneasily not for the first time that week.

"It's always a favour with you, isn't it?" asked Bulma as she shook her head. "Never a 'hey Bulma, how's it going?' or a check in to see how ol' Aunt Bulma's doing."

"I'm sorry," Gohan apologised. "It's just that I've been really busy lately with school and now patrolling the skies as Saiyman. It's tiring work."

"That excuse doesn't cut it when you can fly across the globe in under a minute, y'know," replied Bulma. "Ahh Saiyans, what are you gonna do? Anyway, I'm just teasing you. What can I do for ya, kiddo?"

"It's kind of a long story," explained Gohan. "I'm not even sure if there's a way to help me with this problem, but I know if anyone can, it's you."

"Oh please, now _you're_ teasing me," huffed Bulma as she ran her fingers through a loose strand of hair. "Anyway, I have time today since a certain royal asshat complained that I spend too much time buried away in the lab, yet spent the entire day training in the gravity chamber."

Gohan, wisely, decided to stay out of that and followed Bulma back to the kitchen. She gestured for him to sit down before offering him a drink. "Coffee?"

He shook his head and she murmured a brief "suit yourself" before instructing a bot to grab her a mug. Moments later, she sat down with her drink in hand.

"Alright, I'm interested to find out what's going on because you know I can never resist a challenge," said Bulma as she sipped from a mug with her name written across it in a myriad of different fonts and sizes. "Start from the beginning."

And so Gohan did. He described everything from a bit of background on Videl and how he had quickly acquired his own personal stalker to the events that had transpired three days ago.

"Sounds like puppy love to me," said Bulma with a smirk that only a mother could pull off. "I'm not sure I see the problem here, Gohan, unless you're asking me for dating advice. And to be honest, I wouldn't blame you. Between Chichi and Piccolo, you don't exactly have much to go off of."

"No, it's not that." Once again, Gohan couldn't control the blush that rose to his face. "This girl… Videl, well, we had our first sparring lesson today on the roof."

He paused before quickly continuing upon seeing Bulma raise an intrigued eyebrow.

"She wanted me to throw a punch and let's just say that I was maybe a few millimetres away from fracturing her skull," he said before frowning. "I can't trust my own strength because I've never had to hold back _this_ much. When I'm fighting criminals, it's okay because I'm allowed to knock them out or hurt them a little, but I can't do that to Videl without making her suspicious."

"And naturally, coming clean with her about everything is out of the question?" questioned Bulma.

"Did I mention that she's Mr. Satan's daughter?" asked Gohan. "I doubt she'd believe me if I did tell her the truth. And even then, I don't think she'd be too happy to discover what kind of a man her father really is."

"Y'know, if I didn't love ya so much I'd say this should be Mr. Satan's problem and not mine," Bulma said before she stood up. "I'm afraid I won't be able to come up with a solution in half an hour like with your Saiyaman suit. You'll need to give me a day or two to tinker around and find something for you."

He hugged her, noticing not for the first time how strange it was to be so much taller than her given that she'd towered over him for so long. "Thanks, Bulma. You're the best."

"Uh-uh, you don't just get to walk away from here like that mister," said Bulma as she crossed her arms over her chest in a manner reminiscent of her husband. "I'm more than happy to help out, but I'm going to need a favour in exchange for lending you my brilliant mind."

"Sure, that sounds fair," Gohan said with a nervous smile. "How can I help?"

"Trunks sometimes gets a little lonely looking at you and Goten. And Vegeta doesn't exactly do much to fill that void," said Bulma. "I'd appreciate it if you could make it a point to come over to Capsule Corp. and hang out with him every once in awhile."

"That doesn't seem too unreasonable," said Gohan, gazing at Bulma with a questioning look as if trying to determine what brought that on.

"He takes after his father in more ways than one and you're about the only other male role model he has that he actually looks up to," said Bulma as she sighed once more. "I guess that's Vegeta's fault with how blunt he can be about the shortcomings of us humans."

"I thought he was blunt when it comes to everything," shrugged Gohan. "I'm sure he means well, though."

"I'll never understand how it is that you Sons fail to see anything but the best in people," said Bulma as she stared out the window, a look of contemplation upon her face. "He'd be so proud of you right now, Gohan. Both you and Goten."

"If I ever get too lonely thinking about him, all I do is think about what kind of trouble he's getting up to up there with King Kai," said Gohan with a warm smile. "Anyway, I'll go say hi to Trunks and Vegeta before getting on my way. Thanks for everything again and I'll see you... uhh around, I guess."

…

Videl shook her head before flinging her math textbook to the side. Calculus was the last thing on her mind right now.

She wasn't sure why she had thought it was a good idea to take Gohan on as her protege. Besides being possessed by guilt, she held no qualifications when it came to teaching martial arts and judging from their mock spar the previous day, Gohan was by no means a natural fighter. She wasn't normally one to second guess herself, but his dismal performance had her questioning the plausibility of her task.

Honestly, who could manage to miss a punch that she purposely moved into?

Videl sighed to herself. Gohan's lack of innate talent for martial arts was nothing new to her so there was no point getting frustrated over it. If not for the nearly-dire consequences, Videl would have thought it almost laughable that he had been her primary suspect for Saiyaman's true identity.

Her problem remained unanswered, though. How was she meant to teach a bookworm how to protect himself when the closest he'd probably come to any sort of strenuous activity was watching wildlife documentaries?

She eyed the television on her wall and headed for her personal collection of video tapes. After a few minutes, she found what she was looking for and a smirk found its way onto her face.

…

"Gohan," said Chichi as she tried to attract her son's attention to no avail. She snapped her fingers twice but still couldn't break him out of his trance. "Gohan!"

"Uh, yeah?" He turned away from the window, startled. "Sorry, I guess I was just zoned out."

"You've been doing that an awful lot lately," Chichi mumbled while her eyes narrowed in suspicion. She looked at his plate, which had hardly been touched in comparison to the stacks of dirty dishes Goten had left her. "Is there something you want to tell me? Maybe something has been troubling you at school?"

"No, I think I've been fine," Gohan said with a frown. As much as he loved his mother, she tended to become a little overbearing every now and then. "In fact, school has been just fine. I learned most of the stuff in the textbooks awhile ago, but discussing some of the content with my teachers is interesting at the very least. Plus, in Chemistry, I get to actually conduct the experiments I used to only be able to read about."

"Perhaps it's those extracurricular activities of yours," she suggested with a disapproving look before she shook her head. "I suppose you get that from that father of yours, so there's no point trying to talk you out of it."

Gohan shrugged. "Heh, what can I say, mum? I get to help the needy and wear an awesome superhero costume while doing it. It's a win-win." It was a shame that Goten had already finished his supper because the little guy loved hearing about his adventures as Saiyaman.

"Just try to remember that helping others doesn't mean always putting yourself second," said Chichi with a sigh. "You're even worse than _him_ when it comes to that because you're too kind to speak up for yourself."

Gohan smiled lightly, about to respond until the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" a prepubescent voice exclaimed as it sped towards the door. Gohan and Chichi tried to stop Goten before he reached the door, but he was too quick. "Oh… you're not Trunks."

"Trunks?" a female voice asked in confusion. "I'm looking for Gohan, if he's around."

"Yeah, gimme a sec, I'll call him for you," Goten said before turning towards his approaching sibling and yelling, "Big brother!" for dramatic effect.

"I'm coming, squirt," said Gohan as he finally made his way to the door, Chichi in hot pursuit. "Oh… Videl… what are you doing here?"

"It's nice to see you too, Gohan," said Videl before placing her hands on her hips.

"Oh, sorry," said Gohan as he spun around. "Videl, this is my younger brother, Goten, and my mum, Chichi. And guys, this is Videl, a friend from school."

"I can't believe I didn't see the resemblance earlier," said Videl as she got a closer look at Goten before turning to address Chichi. "I'm glad to finally meet you, Mrs. Son."

"Pleasure's all mine," Chichi replied as she nodded politely before swatting Gohan on the head. "I raised you better than this. This girl has come all the way from who-knows-where to talk to you, so at least invite her inside."

"Right," Gohan chuckled, careful not to let Chichi see him roll his eyes. "Please join us. We were just in the middle of supper."

"I'd love to," said Videl as she eyed the simple house more carefully. "The flight here wasn't any better the second time around."

"Give it a while and you'll get used to it." Gohan gestured for her to follow the trio inside. "Well, this is home," he said, pointing around. "It's not much, but it's a lot more peaceful than the city is."

"Yeah, no kidding. I don't think you could find another soul within a fifty kilometre radius," said Videl. "It's different… but not in a bad way."

They stopped upon reaching the kitchen. Gohan tried to explain away the sheer number of the dirty dishes that Goten had left in his wake, but gave up halfway through his bumbling explanation.

"I'm amazed that you two are in such good health if you really tuck that much food away on a regular basis," Videl said before snorting. "Boys."

"I happen to be quite the cook, if I do say so myself," Chichi explained, "so I'm able to whip up all kinds of delicious food that keeps all its nutritional value because it's unprocessed. Plus, my boys do have Ox-King blood running through their veins so it's no surprise that they inherited my dad's appetite."

"Uh, right," said Videl, deciding that it was wise to not question it. She was their guest, after all. "On second thought, I think I might have lost my appetite."

"Oh don't be like that, dear," said Chichi, waving Videl's protests away as she motioned for the girl to take a seat at the table. She heaped rice and vegetables onto her plate before covering it all in a thick, green sauce. "I insist. Now I won't stuff you anywhere near as full as these two over here but it's almost a four hour journey back to Satan City from here. You can't make that flight on an empty stomach."

Videl, who had started eating, paused and took a moment to swallow. "Using a standard jet-copter, probably. Thankfully, I was due for an upgrade so now it takes me only about two and a half hours going at top speed."

Chichi's eyes glittered a little as she realised that the girl would have to be very well-off to afford to replace a jet-copter at eighteen. "Is that so?"

Gohan took that as his cue to cut his mother off. "So, Videl, you never did tell us why you flew all the way out here." He ended with a nervous chuckle. The two most explosive women in his life were in one room and he had a feeling that it was only a matter of time until the fireworks went off… or worse, his mother took a liking to Videl.

Videl took her time to finish the rest of the rice on her plate before reaching into her pocket and throwing a capsule onto the floor near their television set. It exploded into a thick cloud of smoke, which took a few moments to clear, revealing a stack of VCR tapes.

"Is that dessert?" asked Goten, unable to keep quiet any longer.

"No, I'm afraid I don't have your mum's magic touch in the kitchen," Videl answered as she wiped her hands against each other. Upon receiving quizzical looks from everyone else, she explained. "Homework."

"Homework?" Chichi questioned. "Do you mean like a group project?"

"You haven't told your mum?" asked Videl as she glared at Gohan. "Somehow I'm not that surprised. I'll do it for you so she doesn't get the wrong idea, but jeez, you need to work on that backbone of yours."

"What do you mean?" pressed Chichi as her eyes narrowed. "I hope you've not been getting my boy into any trouble. I've worked so hard for so many years to make sure he doesn't grow up to become some hooli-"

Videl cut her off. "With all due respect, Mrs. Son, I've been trying to keep Gohan out of trouble. Remember when he got hurt the other night thanks to some thugs who were after his belongings?"

Chichi nodded, remembering that Gohan had mentioned something to that effect a few nights ago.

"Yeah, well I've decided to take it upon myself to teach Gohan how to defend himself," said Videl. "I know you might disapprove because something tells me that you never wanted Gohan to go along the violent path, but you've got to understand that Satan City can be a dangerous place and it's importan-"

"Wait, so let me get this straight," said Chichi as she massaged her temples. "You want to teach _my_ Gohan how to fight?"

Videl glanced around the room before looking the mother of two square in the eye. "Yeah."

Chichi couldn't help herself. She erupted into a fit of laughter.

Goten joined in. "Y'know, my big brother's the strongest in the whole entire universe!"

Videl looked at the two in disbelief before turning to Gohan for an explanation, but the boy was doing his best to squeeze himself into the corner of the room without moving an inch. After a moment or two, she placed her hands on her hips.

"I understand what's going on now. This has just been one big misunderstanding," said Videl. "I never properly introduced myself. The name's Videl Satan. I won the Junior Division of the World Martial Arts Tournament two years ago and I help the police fight criminals in my downtime these days."

"With Saiyaman?" asked Goten. Videl nodded. "Oh you're _that_ Videl! Goha-"

Gohan cut his little brother off before he could say any more. "Easy there, squirt," he muttered to the boy.

Videl raised an eyebrow.

"So when you say the name 'Satan', you don't mean you're related to that buffoon Hercule, do you?" Chichi asked as she wiped a tear away from one of her eyes, taking the break in conversation as an opportunity to ask her question.

"Y'know, I think I like you, Mrs. Son," said Videl before breaking into grin. "You're not afraid to speak your mind. Most of the people I know wouldn't have the guts to talk to me about my father like that, but you do. I respect that."

"Maybe the afro is more impressive in person," shrugged Chichi. "Anyway, I think it's a wonderful idea if you teach my poor little boy to defend himself. Even though he might not look it, he's a big softie on the inside so I'm really glad that he's got someone to look after him while he's so far away from home."

Videl blushed. "I'm glad I have your approval, Mrs. Son. It makes me feel a little better about doing this. My dad would probably freak out knowing that I'm meeting a boy at lunch and after school."

"Sweetie, my dad was the Ox-King," said Chichi with a smile. "I get it. Don't let that get in the way of you doing the right thing."

"Right, so back to the tapes," said Videl as she gestured to the stack of tapes near the television. "I figured that while you're still hurt that you could use that as an opportunity to study the techniques of some of the greatest martial artists known to man. So I brought you my personal collection of World Martial Arts tournaments."

"Uh, thanks," said Gohan as he regarded the cassettes with more attention.

"Unfortunately they don't film the Junior Division so you won't be able to watch yours truly kick ass from a few years ago." Videl smirked. "Still, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have you take a look at these over the weekend. I might even quiz you a little on Monday."

"There's only one problem," said Gohan as he looked down at the ground. "We don't own a tape player."

…

"Videl, you still haven't explained why we're here!" exclaimed Erasa. "Seriously, did you see how many department stores had sales? And you walked right past all of them!"

"Quiet. I'll explain later," said Videl distractedly as she eyed a sign which read _SHU'S ELECTRONICS_ in block letters. Satisfied, she stepped inside, dragging her blonde friend in with her.

"Alright, at least explain what we're looking for?" asked Erasa. "I can help you out since I know as much about electronics as you do."

"A tape player and… uh… a new T.V.," said Videl. "Something big and solid quality, but not too flashy."

"What? You already have like a bazillion TVs at your place," said Erasa as she rolled her eyes. "And you try to tell people you're not about material things."

"It's not for me," hissed Videl. "Now keep your voice down."

"Well who could you be buying a T.V. for?" asked Erasa. "My birthday's still four months away and we both know you wouldn't spend that much on Sharpner."

"Does it matter?"

"Yeah, how else will I know what type of T.V. to look for?" asked Erasa.

Videl sighed. "If you must know, it's for Gohan. I swung by his house the other day and noticed that they don't have either a good T.V. or a VCR player so I figured I'd do something nice. Make it up to him for hounding him so much over the past few weeks."

Videl continued on ahead, looking at all kinds of televisions from big box-sets to thinner flat screens.

Unbeknownst to her, her friend was smirking to herself. "So she was over at his house. I wonder…"

…

 **Happy new year everyone!**

 **We would like to thank everyone for the overwhelmingly positive response to the first chapter.**

 **This chapter was brought to you by Kakarot Son and Darkvoid116.**

 **Team Dragon Star is a collaborative effort headed by different writers who work together to bring you stories like this one. If you would like to join, visit our forums and apply there. It presents a great opportunity to further your own writing skills and join a community.**


	3. Chapter 3

"I stayed up almost the entire night working on this a few days ago," said Bulma before producing a metal bracelet in her hand. "I'm afraid it's not much to look at but at least it's fairly inconspicuous."

Gohan reached out to grab the bracelet. It didn't feel particularly special, just like a regular piece of metal that had been bent into an elliptical shape. "So what does this do, exactly?"

"In theory, this will bring your resting power level down to a regular human's," Bulma explained. "Unfortunately, I can't help you science away those muscles of yours, but at least this way you shouldn't end up seriously injuring your friend."

"How'd you manage that?" Gohan asked. Sometimes he felt that for all the wacky space adventures and Eternal Dragons in his life, he didn't take enough time out to appreciate just how smart Bulma was.

"Do you remember the scouter I got my hands on from your Uncle Raditz?" Bulma answered the question with one of her own.

"Yeah, I guess," said Gohan with a shrug. In truth, all he could remember from that day was being trapped inside Raditz's spacepod and later waking up to discover that he had been kidnapped by Piccolo.

"Well, I fiddled around with it for a bit even though its interface was programmed in some strange alien language. Unfortunately, the damn thing blew up before I managed to make good headway with it thanks to Goku and Vegeta's first fight," Bulma muttered, still frustrated by the incident. "We came across scouters again on Namek and by then, my curiosity had been piqued. I took Raditz's scouter apart and put it back together enough times that I had a basic understanding of how they worked, so I was able to make create my very own version after I sweet talked Vegeta into helping me out with the parts I didn't understand."

"That's pretty cool," said Gohan before his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "How did you manage to make the jump from measuring power levels to forcibly suppressing them though? If this works like you say it does, we could just slap it on the next bad guy that we run into."

Bulma laughed. "I'm afraid there's nothing forceful about this. I'm pretty sure even Old Man Roshi wouldn't have any problems frying my bracelet just by powering up; it will only work if you want it to work."

"I guess that makes more sense." Gohan nodded. "So I imagine that you tried to study the differences in ki between someone like say… Trunks and yourself? And then you tried to see what you could do to make Trunks' power level resemble your own."

"I knew you weren't just a pretty face," Bulma said with a grin. "I tried using Vegeta as a guinea pig first but, as you'd imagine, he wasn't very cooperative."

"I normally focus on getting stronger instead of weaker," said the Saiyan Prince as he entered Bulma's lab with a towel draped around his neck. "Although, I can forgive Gohan's confusion. It's been how many years since he's been in a real fight?"

"Uh, hello to you too, Vegeta," greeted Gohan with an uncertain chuckle. "It's been long enough, I suppose, but I'm pretty content enjoying the peace while it lasts."

"And when you find yourself out of your league because you were too busy running around in ridiculous costumes? Then what will you do?" asked Vegeta with a snort. "You have Saiyan blood in you, boy. Maybe you should try acting like you do sometime."

"Vegeta's just grumpy because there's nobody around for him to spar with," Bulma said dismissively before shooting Vegeta a look. "I for one think it's nice that one of you Saiyans actively tries to think with your head instead of your fists."

"I never really had my father's drive for fighting," explained Gohan. "I only ever trained so hard to protect everyone around me. I mean, I'm not opposed to a bit of exercise here and there, but I think the whole 'lust for battle' must be more of a full-blooded Saiyan thing."

"Then that's all that matters, kiddo. You're allowed to be yourself." Bulma glared at Vegeta from the corner of her eyes, almost as though she were challenging him to say anything to the contrary. "Now, back to my newest gizmo. Like I was saying, there's no way this will be able to withstand even a fraction of your true power so please don't try and test its limits."

"What happens if I need to power up to fight crime as Saiyaman?" Gohan questioned, standing up a little straighter. He was sure the whole dilemma with Videl would prove to be… interesting, but it wasn't worth putting innocent people at risk.

"I've got plans to build you a new watch that combines this prototype and the technology I used in your Saiyaman suit so you'll be able to tap into your full power when you wear your Saiyaman costume," said Bulma before going on to answer his question. "For now, just pull the two contacts apart or take it off."

She demonstrated that the elliptical bracelet had a small break in it which could be pulled, allowing the bracelet to take on a shape that resembled a 'C'.

"Instead of trying to neuter yourself, why don't you try and make this girl less of a weakling?" Vegeta suggested. "Or have you gotten so rusty that you can't even teach an Earthling how to fight?"

Gohan scowled a little at Vegeta's jab. "She just thinks I'm a regular person. For once in my life, I want to fit in with the rest of the world and pretend I'm not strong enough to destroy the planet by sneezing too hard."

"Pitiful," Vegeta decided with a shake of his head. "If my boy ever decides to forgo his heritage, I'll lock him in the gravity chamber until he comes back out a true Saiyan."

"I don't think so, mister," said Bulma before crossing her arms over her chest. "I'll remind you that that's _my_ gravity chamber."

Vegeta scowled at her, a witty response dancing on his tongue before he thought better of it and walked off muttering about wasted potential and stupid humans.

"So, Gohan," hummed Bulma with a devious smile on her face once the prince had left the room. "Chichi tells me that your _friend_ flew all the way out to your place the other day."

"It's not like that," said Gohan as he held up his hands in defence. "She's been taking the whole teacher thing really seriously so she wanted to personally hand me some homework for the weekend."

Bulma rolled her eyes. "Honestly, you Sons can be so dense. Did you really believe that lame excuse? She was probably just looking for a reason to see you, Gohan."

"Not you too, Bulma." Gohan groaned before bringing a palm to his forehead. "I haven't been able to get mum to stop talking about marriage and grandbabies for the past two _days_."

"It's just so much fun to tease you," Bulma laughed before reaching over and pinching his right cheek.

"Say, I know I've asked a lot of you this past week, but do you reckon you could do me one more favour?" asked Gohan while he rubbed his now-sore cheek.

Bulma sighed. "I suppose another one will hardly make a difference." She took the opportunity to shake her head in an exaggerated show of disbelief. "Just don't forget about our little deal. Shoot away."

"You don't happen to have a spare jet-copter lying around anywhere, do you?"

…

"What do you keep staring at?" Sharpner muttered under his breath to his blonde friend who was fixated on something else. Erasa was like the glue that held their friendship circle together: without her bubbly presence, he and Videl really didn't have much to talk about aside from the occasional banter about his latest attempt to put the moves on her.

So, it wasn't surprising that things had been rather subdued given that she had hardly said a word the entire day. Currently, her eyes were glued onto something that Sharpner couldn't see, no matter how hard he looked. It was almost as though she were in a trance. Every now and then she would shoot an odd look at Videl before going back to staring at nothing.

"Look," she whispered, gesturing towards their resident crimefighter while the teacher was focused on writing algebra questions on the whiteboard. "Notice anything strange?"

Sharpner decided to humour the blonde and offer Videl a cursory glance. Nothing seemed to be out of order: the same oversized white shirt, the same pigtails she wore her hair in every day and - Sharpner was most pleased to note - the same black shorts that covered just enough of her shapely, toned legs. She was rocking back on her chair and absentmindedly chewing on the end of a pencil as she looked forlornly into the distance.

Math had never been her favourite subject, after all.

"Not really. Am I missing something?" he asked Erasa quietly, careful not to attract the attention of their teacher or the girl in question.

"I think someone has a crush," said Erasa in a sing-song voice. Unfortunately, she attracted some unwanted attention.

"Is there something you would like to share with the class, Erasa?" asked their teacher. He didn't wait for her to respond. "Perhaps you would like to volunteer to demonstrate the solutions to the first three problems on the board?"

Erasa groaned as she realised that last bit had not been a suggestion.

Sharpner had other things to be worried about. "Videl?" he asked, once the teacher's attention had turned elsewhere.

Erasa glanced up from her textbook to meet Sharpner's questioning gaze with a curt nod.

"On who?" he asked as his voice rose in volume to a harsh whisper.

She looked up from her book once again before mouthing "Gohan" and giving her fellow blond a look that promised to explain after she had solved the math problems their teacher was going to force her to walk the class through.

Sharpner almost snorted. "I think you're seeing things."

She shrugged before focusing on her work, leaving Sharpner with much to ponder as he decided to examine Videl further. Erasa had a way with people that let her pick up on things like this, but she was also always too much of a romantic at heart.

There was no way Videl could see Gohan of all people in that way… right?

…

"Explain," said Sharpner, offering Erasa a sceptical look once the bell rang and the rest of the students dispersed for their lunch break. He hadn't been able to get his friend's words out of his head for the entire lesson and had spent the rest of it trying to analyse Videl's behavioural patterns. From where he was seated, she did seem to spend an awful lot of time looking in Gohan's general direction, but he couldn't tell for certain if she had been focused on the mysterious new kid.

Erasa took a moment to collect her books. "Haven't you noticed how obsessed she's been with Gohan lately?"

"Yeah, of course," Sharpner replied. Videl had made no secret of the fact that she smelled something fishy about their classmate. "I thought that was because she was convinced he's hiding something."

"She was," said Erasa. "The last time I talked to her about Gohan, she was desperately trying to prove to me that he really is Saiyaman."

"Who, Brains?" asked Sharpner as he considered the plausibility of such a theory. "He looks a little too scrawny to be flying off rooftops if you ask me."

"Exactly, but you know Videl. Once she thinks she has something figured out, there's no talking her out of it." Erasa sighed. "Anyway, the other day she dragged me out to help her buy a brand new T.V. _and_ a VCR tape player for Gohan."

"... That's a little extreme, don't you think?" Sharpner responded after a brief pause. "I guess it's a nice gesture, though. Videl's so well off that she wouldn't bat an eyelid at such a purchase, but Gohan probably comes from humbler places."

"Tell me about it. So it got me thinking: what would make Videl, of all people, do something _that_ nice for a new kid she was convinced was up to no good?" Erasa asked rhetorically. "And then, all of a sudden, the answer dawned on me: she's been falling for him!"

"That's a pretty big leap there, 'rasa," said Sharpner after taking a moment to process Erasa's hunch. "I don't think Videl is capable of _falling_ for anyone. I mean, she's managed to evade my irresistible charm for so long."

"Don't get too ahead of yourself," warned Erasa before playfully swatting him on the shoulder. "And even though Videl tries to act like a big hardass, you know just as well as I do that she's not like that on the inside."

"What makes Brains so special, then?" Sharpner questioned with an air of genuine curiosity. "Somehow, I don't think she's attracted to his _incredible_ intellect _._ "

"Aside from the fact that he's really cute; he's so innocent and pure that it feels like you could replace him with a big stuffed up teddy bear sometimes," Erasa replied as she looked off into the distance with a twinkle in her eye. "Plus it's just so romanti-"

"Okay, okay, I get it," Sharpner interrupted. "Opposites attract. So how do you plan to test your theory?"

"By looking for more clues, of course," Erasa answered. "I figure that she's got to meet up with Gohan at some point to hand him the stuff she bought for him so we might get to see something special if we can hide somewhere."

"Do you think she's going to chase him up to the rooftop again?" asked Sharpner. He and Erasa had tried to talk Videl out of spying on the new kid plenty of times, but that had gone about as well as they had expected.

"If she doesn't corner him right now at lunch, then yeah, I'd say so." Erasa rubbed the palms of her hands together in anticipation. "We both happen to have last period free so we can stake-out the roof if you're game."

Sharpner shrugged. "I guess it beats catching up on my biology homework."

"Alright, it's a date!" exclaimed Erasa with a chuckle. "I wonder what we're going to see. Do you reckon they're at the kissing stage yet? I mean Gohan's a pretty shy guy, but Videl never goes into anything half-hearted so…"

Sharpner slowly but surely zoned out of the conversation as the two blonds walked towards the cafeteria, Erasa lost in a world of her own as she described every single thought running through her mind.

…

Videl was off like a hawk the moment the bell rang. She knew Gohan's routine at the end of the day so well that it was almost natural for her at this stage. As far as she was concerned, the two had wasted enough time already since the minor setback she had encountered the other day had cost Gohan a weekend of watching _real_ martial artists go toe-to-toe.

With someone like Gohan, Videl figured she was never going to get his full cooperation unless she got him interested in the sport and the World Martial Arts tournament was about as exciting as it got when it came to hand-to-hand combat. She was certain a bookworm like him would appreciate the changes in general trends of fighting styles over the years and since her collection spanned from the days of Master Roshi to her own father winning the championship, there was more than enough in there to catch the eye.

She sprinted up the stairs and burst onto the rooftop, only to look around in confusion when she realised nobody was there. While she was determined to take her task seriously, she wasn't exactly eager to fly all the way to Mount Paozu again. A return trip amounted to about five hours of flying time and that would be a feat in and of itself after a whole day of school. Without even accounting for the homework that she needed to complete on a regular basis, by the time she made it back to the Satan manor she would probably only have enough energy left to eat a very late dinner before collapsing onto her bed in an exhausted heap.

"Looking for me?" Gohan's voice rang out from behind her. She spun around just in time to face him as he stepped onto the roof. "I thought that you'd be up here so I figured there was no point trying to rush back home."

Videl was about to respond, but a loud crash from somewhere else on the roof killed the words on her tongue. Although she was fairly certain they were alone, it was possible that some moron had left something up here as a joke during lunch or something. She decided to ignore it and cleared her throat to attract her pupil's attention.

She fished around in the pocket of her shorts before producing a capsule and throwing it onto the floor of the rooftop. A thin cloud of smoke followed. "I, err, got you something. Call it a 'get better soon' present or whatever."

She could see Gohan's expression change from curious to completely shocked when the smoke cleared, revealing a fifty-inch flat screen television and an accompanying tape player. She twirled the end of one of her pigtails with the tip of her index finger as she watched him at a loss for words.

"Y-you shouldn't have," he finally said after what felt like an eternity or two of hesitation. "I would've talked mum into buying a tape player as soon as we could, honest."

Videl's face flushed a scorching red. She felt like walking to the nearest brick wall and banging her head against it because only now did she realise how awkward a thing it was to buy a guy she hardly knew a new T.V. "I wanted you to get started right away," explained Videl. "No offence, but having a jet-copter on you paints a target on your back in this city. Once a few gang members get a whiff, you won't be safe until you either agree to their demands or show them not to mess with you."

"Right," Gohan said with a nod, still unsure of what to say. "Please tell me how much it cost you, though? Mum would kill me if I just accepted it without paying you back."

"You can tell Mrs. Son that I insist," said Videl as she began to regain her usual confidence. "You're a good kid, Gohan, and you had to see an ugly side of the city because I wasn't fast enough to save you the other day. If it helps you, maybe think of this as nothing more than a tool to improve your martial arts skills. And besides, not to brag or anything, but I'm pretty sure my father spends more eating out at fancy restaurants every other day so it's not like anyone's going to miss the money."

"That's really kind of you, Videl, and I really appreciate it," said Gohan stubbornly, "but I can't just take it from you. It wouldn't feel right."

"Just accept the gift already, you idiot," Videl snapped in irritation before rolling her eyes. "Alright, fine, you can pay me back… not with money, but by promising to take this thing we have here seriously and really give it your best effort. I know you're still iffy about the whole fighting thing, but it would mean a lot to me."

"Sounds like a deal," replied Gohan with a grin. "I mean, I'm still getting the better end of it, but when you put it that way… I guess I'd do the same thing too if I, uh, were any good at fighting, that is. I'd try and protect everyone I can."

Videl encapsulated her recent purchases and shook Gohan's outstretched hand with her right before offering him the capsule with her left.

"So I guess this means I better put my plans to write up that Chemistry report on hold, right?" asked Gohan.

"Damn right," said Videl without blinking. "Wait, that's not even due for another two weeks!"

Gohan raised a hand to the back of his head sheepishly. "If you're keen to make a head start on it, I could run you through it once I've had a chance to go through those tapes of yours."

"Fine," muttered Videl after shrugging her shoulders. "Don't think I'm going to go easy on you now. I want to give you a few more days to fully recover, but we're going to start with the real stuff this Wednesday. We'll have to figure something out because it won't always be practical to do this here after school."

"I'm pretty flexible," Gohan responded. "I'm happy to do it somewhere in the mornings if that'd be easier for you."

Videl looked at him like he'd grown a second head. "You do realise that it takes you four hours to get here so you'd probably be looking at getting up at two in the morning to make it here with enough time to spare, right?"

"I'm an early riser," said Gohan dismissively before a smirk rose to his face. "And besides, you're not the only one who has a fancy new jet-copter."

Videl's expression didn't change.

"Jet-copters are a must if you want to get anywhere further than a small town or two where I live," Gohan began to explain. "So my mum entered into a cook-off competition when she was in town doing the groceries… and she won! I'm not sure how it stacks up to yours since I didn't go full speed in the morning, but apparently it's the final prototype of a model that's hitting the market in a few months."

"That's surprisingly… believable," said Videl after a moment or two. "I mean, I only got a little taste of your mum's food the other night, but it tasted better than anything our chef and all his kitchen staff have ever managed to whip up."

"I guess she gets a lot of practice between my brother and me," said Gohan with a hearty laugh. "Anyway, I better be off now. It might not take me an entire four hours to make the trip back home, but I'll need all the time I can get if I'm to put those tapes to good use."

He tossed a capsule to the ground and a moment later, there was a shiny new jet-copter for all to see. Videl figured that his little story added up given the bold Capsule Corporation logo emblazoned on the outside of the vehicle. The paint didn't look entirely fresh - Videl could only make that particular distinction because she had picked out a new jet-copter herself a few days ago - but that fit in with it being a prototype.

With a hint of a smile on her face, she bid him goodbye as he hopped into his jet-copter and disappeared into the skyline. Her gaze lingered there for a while as she took the opportunity to admire the view before she turned on her heel and continued back to the stairwell.

The sound of two pairs of feet shuffling in front of her and soft tutting quickly drew her attention. Erasa was shaking her head, seemingly in disapproval, while Sharpner hung slightly behind her with his arms crossed.

"All that work and you didn't even step onto your tiptoes to try and steal a goodbye kiss?" Erasa asked in a tone that had Videl questioning whether she was serious or not. "How disappointing."

"What are you two even doing here?" demanded Videl, her nostrils flared. It had been a simple conversation with her pupil and yet the thought of others - even her best friends - intruding upon it felt wrong. "I hope you weren't spying on me."

"Like you can talk," Sharpner countered before running a hand along his bicep. "You've been following Gohan around so much lately that I'm not sure he thinks the word 'privacy' exists in Satan City."

"That's different!" exclaimed Videl.

"How?" asked Erasa. "And besides, it's not like you told us that you were going to be up here in the first place."

Videl had no answer to that. She sighed and her posture slumped, defeated.

"Now that we've got that out of the way, care to fill us in?" questioned Erasa. "You never did explain the backstory behind that impromptu shopping trip, although I think I have a fairly good idea now."

Videl took a deep breath. She had been hoping to avoid having this conversation, mostly because it meant owning up to her own stupidity, but it was necessary. Fudging any details would just make Erasa more excited than she already was, provided that she didn't see through the lie altogether.

"It all happened last week," Videl began. "I guess I don't have to tell you guys how… obsessed I was about proving that Gohan is Saiyaman-"

"No," they chorused.

"So I was shadowing him after school while he tried to make his journey home. I figured that he wouldn't bother using a jet-copter if he could fly, after all. It was going fine until a few gang members appeared and started roughing Gohan up," Videl continued before taking a moment to pause. "I thought that if I just waited in the background, if I didn't reveal myself, he'd use his Saiyaman powers to make short work of the thugs. I was wrong."

Erasa winced. "So that's why he looked a little roughed up the other day?"

"Yeah," Videl answered. "Of course, I intervened as soon as I realised I had made a mistake, but it was too late by that point: he had already been hurt."

"So you tried to bribe him with a new T.V. and a tape player?" The disapproval in Sharpner's voice rapidly bubbled to the surface. "It might make you feel better, but that doesn'-"

"Let me finish," Videl interrupted him, her voice pleading for once. She couldn't afford to lose her friends; they were the only _real_ ones she had. "I felt pretty terrible about it, but I couldn't bring myself to tell him that I allowed it to happen. Not in the heat of the moment. So when I brought him around to the police station, I talked him into letting me teach him self-defense."

The rooftop was quiet for a moment before Sharpner spoke again. "You and your dad haven't taken on a student since he defeated Cell." He knew that better than most, having failed to convince Videl's father to take him on as a disciple on multiple occasions.

"Yeah, we didn't need the extra publicity or money after that," explained Videl. "And I'm not looking for either with Gohan, just an opportunity to atone for screwing up."

Erasa placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We all make mistakes."

"I don't think you did the right thing, but it seems that you've come to the same conclusion," Sharpner offered his two cents before shrugging. "You don't need my forgiveness because I wasn't the one who got clobbered. I'm sure Brains will hear you out if you decide to make things right."

"I'll come clean to him eventually," Videl promised. "I think I need to do a bit of soul searching before I get to that point, though. I messed up. Bad."

"Well everyone's fine now so it could have been worse," Erasa diplomatically stated. "Just try to not let your suspicion get in the way of your better judgement next time. I know you don't like Saiyaman, but he's still on our side, at least for the moment."

"Thanks." Videl forced a smile even though letting her heart out had just made her feel worse. "I wish I could pin this all on Saiyaman and say it's his fault… but it's not. This is on me."

"It takes courage to open up about these things." Sharpner tried to comfort his friend after she sniffled. He had never seen Videl cry before. "I might have been a little too harsh, there. Either way, there's no point dwelling over this. Worry about what you can do right instead of what you did wrong."

This time, Videl smiled a little wider. "Yeah, I think I can do that."

…

"The Great Saiyaman has arrived!" exclaimed Saiyaman as he burst onto the scene. "Evildoers beware!"

"Where'd he come from?" asked a robber with a balaclava covering his face. "I thought we had more time till the cops showed up!"

"He's not with the police," said Videl as she raised her arms in front of her, "but I am."

"I told you not to go for the place next to the damn high school!" one of the other robbers exclaimed before producing a pistol. "Look, we don't want to hurt any of you. Just let us walk with the cash and we don't have to shoot."

Saiyaman took a moment to survey the scene in front of him. Four robbers; two posted outside on lookout while the other two took care of the inside of the convenience store. They had a getaway vehicle parked on the kerb, but he decided not to blow it up because it was possible that there was a driver stationed inside of it.

All in all, an easy workout.

He launched forward to take out the thug with a raised pistol only to realise that he was already sprawled across the floor and his gun was now displaced twenty metres away from him. He blinked before turning to Videl who was fending off the other watchman.

"You snooze, you lose," she shrugged before kneeing her opponent in the gut and sending him to join his friend.

"That was fast," Saiyaman muttered to himself, "but I bet I can save the people inside even faster!"

In a flash, the two robbers on the inside suddenly found themselves lying on their knees on top of the footpath with their arms crossed behind their necks. Saiyaman crushed their guns into small pieces before dusting his hands off and turning to his fellow crimefighter.

"Alas, justice has preva-"

"Shut up before I get my backup officers to gag you," Videl glared at the superhero before her features softened considerably. "Thanks for your help, though. I'm pretty sure I had it handled, but hostage situations are always a little messy because you never know when one of these lowlifes will decide to cave into the pressure and blow someone's head off."

Gohan was a little lost for words. As far as he was aware, Videl still hated Saiyaman with a burning passion because she didn't like the idea of someone going outside police jurisdiction to dole out justice. "No problem," he said after a while. "I was just trying to do my bit."

"Did you just break character?" Videl asked with a grin. "Y'know if you'd lose that eyesore of a costume and drop that stupid voice, I wouldn't find you so annoying."

"Not gonna happen, I'm afraid, Miss Videl," he said, suddenly conscious of his exaggeratedly deep voice. "I'm glad to see that we might just be able to get along after all."

"Don't get too used to it," Videl shot back before sighing. "It's just that I promised myself I'd try something new. Something happened recently that made me realise that it's not a bad thing if there are more people who want to try and do good in this world."

Gohan figured that Videl's epiphany made sense. From her perspective, if Saiyaman had just happened to be flying nearby, then 'Gohan' would have never gotten hurt.

"Also, I've been a little hard on you these past few weeks," admitted Videl. "Now that's all you're getting out of me. I want you to remember that I won't think twice about taking you down if you step out of line."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Saiyaman responded after a moment's deliberation. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'd best be off. I have something else which needs to be taken care of tonight."

With that, he swooped off and disappeared into the sky, leaving a somewhat conflicted Videl in his stead.

 _'_ _Maybe he's not so much of an idiot after all.'_

...

 **This chapter was brought to you by Kakarot Son and Darkvoid116.**

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	4. Chapter 4

"Are you ready?"

"Not really," said Gohan as he settled into an ungraceful fighting stance. "You've been a tiny bit scarier to me ever since you took down those thugs."

"I'll take that as a compliment," said Videl. "I want to see what you managed to soak up from that last session. You can listen to someone rattle on about how to fight as much as you'd like, but it doesn't stick until you try it yourself."

"So how are we going to about this?" asked Gohan. "I know I'm not ready to give you a proper fight, even though I'm back on my feet now." He brushed the top of his bracelet with his fingertips, hopeful that Bulma's invention would come through for him when it counted.

"I want you to land a solid blow on me," Videl answered a few moments after placing a finger to her chin. "I've built my entire fighting style around speed, so that's what I can demonstrate the best. You can jack yourself up on all the steroids in the world, but there's no point if you can't touch your opponent."

"Shouldn't I be trying to dodge your attacks instead?" questioned Gohan. Although he supposed there was no way out of this now, the youth figured there was no harm in trying.

"We'll get to that soon." Videl thumped her palms together with a smirk. "You're still too scared of hurting other people. Just to stop things from getting boring though, I'll mix it up with a counter attack every now and then."

Gohan gulped audibly. He took a step forward and placed his arms in front of his body, like Videl had demonstrated the other day.

"Whenever you're ready." Videl beckoned for him to attack her with her hand as she lightly bounced up and down on her feet.

Gohan took another half-step forward to bring himself closer and then lashed out with his fist. Even though he was restraining himself, his movement felt more sluggish than usual. Either Bulma's device was doing its magic, or Vegeta was correct about him slacking off.

Videl leapt to the side, dodging it with ease. Despite many late-afternoon crime fighting escapades as Saiyaman, Gohan couldn't tell whether Videl was going easy on him or not because he was sure that even his mother would have used the opportunity to knock him off balance.

Shrugging that thought off, he kicked at his newest fighting _mentor_ with his opposite foot in a simple feint, which forced her to jump back towards her original position - right into his outstretched fist which clobbered her in the shoulder. Gohan panicked, concern breaking out onto his face when he noticed her wince and just when it felt as though time itself had stopped, she grinned.

"Smooth going," she muttered to herself. "Normally, I'd call that a lucky hit, but I think I underestimated you. When we go again, I'll make sure to up the ante."

Gohan beamed in relief. Bulma had come through for him after all.

…

"What are you looking at?" asked Sharpner.

Gohan turned his gaze towards the ground. "Nothing much."

"You don't have the knack for lying," tutted Sharpner before tapping the side of his head. "And besides, I have eyes, y'know?" He finished by gesturing towards Erasa and Videl who were setting up their lab equipment on the other side of the room.

Gohan shrugged. "I'm just trying to figure her out."

"Good luck with that one." The blond snorted. "I've been trying for the better part of six years. Anyway, looks like you need a partner?"

"I guess I do," said Gohan, blinking as he realised that the rest of the class had already partnered up. He was stuck with Sharpner for better or for worse. "I'm a little surprised that you want to pair up with me, if I'm honest. We didn't exactly have the best of starts."

Sharpner shrugged. "I've got to pass somehow. And besides, Erasa and Videl are cool with you so I guess I am too."

"Cool with me?" Gohan repeated nervously. It still hadn't fully registered that Videl had ceased hounding him and had bought him a brand new television. That was almost a bigger heel-face turn than when Bulma somehow got Vegeta to wear a pink shirt.

"You can play it like that if you want," said Sharpner before smirking mischievously, "but I know for a fact that the two of you were up on the roof this morning."

"It's not like that," Gohan protested, much to Sharpner's amusement. He could practically feel his face flush red. "How'd you even find out about that anyway?" he asked as he began to set up the equipment needed for the experiment they had to conduct.

"I know you're new, but I thought you'd catch on quicker than this," sighed Sharpner. "There isn't anything that goes on around here without Erasa finding out about it half an hour later. Trust me. And I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that she's not exactly great at keeping things to herself either."

"So what did she say about what we were doing up there?" asked Gohan. He wasn't particularly keen to end up at the centre of more rumours.

" _'_ _Sparring but I don't expect that to last for too long'_ were her exact words, I believe," Sharpner replied as he ran a hand through the ends of his hair.

"Does Videl normally spar with people on the roof?" The black-haired boy couldn't help but feel Sharpner's nonchalant attitude implied that this was something of a regular occurrence.

"Nah, I heard the story of how you got jumped the other day and how Videl's decided to make sure you know how to throw a punch," explained Sharpner. He tried extra hard to look disinterested, brushing at his shoulder as Gohan placed a beaker full of green liquid over a bunsen burner and began to heat it. "This is a rough place if you're not careful. People aren't going to be as nice as they are out in the country."

Gohan refrained from mentioning that the only people from 'out in the country' that he had any interaction with were his mum and little brother. "It can't be that bad. Videl was literally beating herself up because she wasn't able to help any sooner."

"Saiyaman might have only shown up a few weeks ago, but she's always had a tendency to play superhero," reflected Sharpner. "You're right, though. She was pretty torn up about it."

A silence ensued, both men hesitant to say too much about the topic. Gohan added a few grams of a thick powder that had been provided to them in a jar into the bubbling liquid and stirred it through, noting down his observations about the reaction that occurred.

Finally, Sharpner broke the silence. "Gotta hand it to you though, Brains. Don't think I've ever seen Videl obsess over one person so much, for good or bad."

Somehow Gohan felt he wasn't just trying to make small talk.

…

"Oh, it's nice to see you again, Videl," said Chichi as she eyed the girl at the door. "Do come in."

"You too, Mrs. So-"

"Chichi," insisted the widow. "I'm not getting any younger, but being called 'Mrs. Son' makes me feel twice my age."

"Alright, 'Chichi' it is," replied Videl with a warm smile as she stepped inside the house. She wondered for a moment if her own mum would have insisted that her friends do the same.

"So what brings you by on a school night?" Chichi tried not to sound too pushy. "I'm fine with you training Gohan, but I don't want it to come before anyone's education."

"Actually, that's just it," Videl explained. "Gohan promised to help me out with a Chemistry report."

"I know I'm a mother of two, Videl, but I wasn't born yesterday," said Chichi with a slight shake of her head. "I know there's something you're not telling me."

"Fine," huffed Videl, careful to not get too frustrated, "I want to make sure Gohan actually watches those tapes I sent over to him."

"Oh, where are my manners?" Chichi asked before hitting herself on her forehead. "I forgot to thank you for your generosity with the new television. It really wasn't necessary."

Videl snorted. "I just wanted to make sure Gohan couldn't worm his way out of it. You've raised a great kid and all that, but I swear I've never met someone with so many excuses for everything."

"He's always taken time to get comfortable with people." Chichi let out an exasperated sigh. "My one regret about living all the way out here in the countryside is that he rarely had a chance to socialise with kids his own age growing up."

"I was kind of the same," Videl admitted. "After my mum died, my father and I moved around a lot so he could focus on his martial arts. I was never in one place for long so it was hard to make friends and after a while, I stopped trying. Once he defeated Cell, it just felt like everyone who approached me was fake."

Chichi looked like she wanted to respond, but thought better of it after a few moments of deliberation. "Gohan's probably studying in his room. It's just past the kitchen there; you can't miss it."

Videl shrugged, figuring that Gohan's mother was peculiar if nothing else. She continued through the building, admiring the cosy home with more detail this time. The floor was spotless and the place was well-heated, but there were numerous scuff marks along the walls and in the corners. True to his mother's word, she found Gohan sitting by his desk with a few different textbooks sprawled across it.

She knocked on his door, even though it was open. "Hey, Stranger."

He turned around, a surprised look on his face. It looked as if he was trying a little too hard, almost like he somehow knew she was coming. "Oh, hey Videl! What are you doing here?"

"I felt like flying somewhere in my jet-copter today." Videl shrugged. "Besides, said you'd help me with that Chemistry report."

It took a moment or two for a look of realisation to dawn on his face. "I didn't think you'd want to get started on it so early."

"I don't, but I need to start taking Chemistry a little more seriously," said Videl. "I mean, it's not like I'll fail or anything, but I've been struggling recently."

"Is that so?" asked Gohan.

"No, not really," she admitted before the corners of her mouth twisted upwards in a smirk. "I wanted to make sure that you've been putting that new T.V. to good use."

The blank look on Gohan's face was all that she needed. "Oh… right, I did watch _a_ fight the other day."

She sighed. "I'm not even surprised."

He smiled apologetically. "I'll tell you what… why don't you let me put these Biology books away and we can watch a few rounds together?"

Videl felt compelled to threaten him and promise to extract revenge on him for wasting her time during their next training session, but instead, she just nodded.

"Well, I didn't come all the way over here to do Chemistry homework."

…

"Dinner will be another hour or so away, but this should help tide you over until then," said Chichi as she placed a plate of dumplings on the coffee table in front of the sofa. The new television was loud and blaring in her face as a purple-haired fighter tried to use her feminine wiles against someone dressed like a monk.

Videl eyed the plate of food sceptically before glancing towards the mother and son. "Are you sure that's going to be enough?"

"It might be more for your benefit than Gohan's," Chichi admitted with a laugh. "After a filling meal, he and that brother of his rarely last more than twenty minutes before they go looking for more food to shove in their mouths."

"It's sad that I don't even doubt that anymore," said Videl, shaking her head as she tried to dispel the mental image of the two Son boys pigging out. She had never been a stickler for table manners, but even she had her limits.

Once Chichi had disappeared, Videl grabbed a pair of chopsticks and reached for the plate of dumplings. She popped one in her mouth and chewed purposefully before turning to address Gohan, satisfied.

"This isn't the most conventional fight you'll ever see," she said upon seeing his flustered face. She couldn't stop herself from breaking out into a fit of laughter; his utter bewilderment at some of the tactics on show was just too much. After a few moments, she managed to calm herself down enough to continue. "It's useful for displaying how important it is to remain focussed on the task at hand, though."

"I think he's trying pretty hard to be fair," said Gohan as he gestured towards the dark-skinned monk who was attempting to resist his opponent's outlandish advances. "Talk about an interesting matchup."

"Oh, you have no idea," Videl said with a knowing smile as the match finally ended with the monk knocking the temptress out with a swift chop to the back of the head. "Trawling through these fights used to be my version of Saturday morning cartoons."

"I was never really a fan of those either," admitted Gohan. "I always felt that exploring my backyard was so much more interesting."

"You've got to take me adventuring around here sometime because you never stop talking about how great it is," Videl said absentmindedly before robbing her student of the chance to respond. "Ooh! Pay attention to this fight and you'll see what I meant about the whole cartoon analogy."

A pot-bellied child in an orange uniform frantically made his way on stage to fight against a terrifying pterodactyl-like creature that looked to be at least ten times his size. Within seconds, he was flung into the arena's brick wall by the monster's gargantuan tail.

Gohan coughed nervously. Videl spared him a glance; he was shifting uncomfortably on the edge of his seat and fidgeting with his fingers. Nothing too out of the norm for the boy who was decidedly not Saiyaman so Videl chalked it down to him feeling uneasy at seeing a child on the receiving end of such brutality.

"It has a happy ending."

She offered him a reassuring smile. She didn't know much about his childhood, but given what she already knew about him, she wagered it wasn't a large leap to assume that his parents had been harsh disciplinarians. Social awkwardness, a reluctance to engage in violence, introversion — all the signs seemed to point in the same direction.

He met her eyes with a smile plastered on for her benefit. After a moment or two, he broke the tension. "I don't know how I'd go about even _imagining_ how to fight something like that."

She scoffed - "The bigger they are, the harder they fall" - but inwardly she was still trying to unravel the young man in front of her. She could see Chichi running a tight ship, so to speak, but it was difficult to see how that translated to the cues in Gohan's behaviour Videl was picking up on. Her hatred of nosy people who had nothing better to do than gossip all day began to clash against her fundamental desire to solve every case as she contemplated pushing for more answers. She didn't want to overstep her bound-

"Oh wow, a snack!" an excited voice squealed, snapping her out of her thoughts as Gohan's younger brother - Goten, was it? - came into focus. Her eyes narrowed. "I'm starving!"

"Those dumplings are for Videl," Gohan scolded his brother with a voice so firm that it almost sounded fatherly. "You need to ask her permission if you'd like some."

"Oh, okay," said Goten as he slumped his shoulders and made a big show of dragging his feet along the floor as he approached her. "Can I have some of your dumplings, Videl? Pretty please?"

Videl, for her part, was too busy wondering why she'd never bothered to give Goten more than a cursory glance before to pay attention to his forced attempt at a pout. She couldn't tell what was more suspicious, the peculiar hairstyle or the way the baby fat still framed his cheeks. The last name, the clothes, hell, even the first syllable of his name… it was all starting to add up quicker than Gohan's sums in Math class. It was only when Gohan's head turned towards her too that she realised she still needed to respond.

"Oh yeah, go for it, little man," Videl blurted out tactlessly. She was met by a cheer from the young boy who promptly reached for a dumpling with his fingers and scarfed it down.

As Gohan reprimanded his younger brother for not thanking Videl for her generosity, Videl's eyes darted between the image of a young Son Goku squaring off against a terrifying monster and Goten's ecstatic protests. The resemblance between the two was so strong that Videl couldn't help but wonder if Goten was the result of a cloning experiment, or if Gohan's father had stumbled across the fountain of youth.

"Leave some for Videl!"

Videl's mind drifted away from the brothers' bickering to why Gohan had not said anything if that was indeed his father fighting against some kind of grotesque behemoth. Obviously, the man was dead and Videl knew as well anyone that a deceased parent was a sore spot that was best left unexposed, but surely her protégé would have mentioned that his father had won a World Martial Arts Tournament if that's all there was to it.

Only one thing was certain: this warranted further investigation.

…

When Videl got home that night, it was far closer to midnight than she would have preferred. She tiptoed through the hallways of her mansion, hoping not to attract the attention and subsequent fervent questioning of her father, before making it to her room and beelining for her computer.

There were so many unanswered questions about Gohan that she couldn't imagine any case she would ever be assigned as a detective would pose so much intrigue. Questions surrounding Son Goku and his connection to her classmate had stewed in the back of her mind for the better part of the past three hours and now it was time to finally get some answers.

Was he really Gohan and Goten's father? How had he come to pass? And perhaps, most importantly, why hadn't Gohan mentioned him to her yet?

Within moments, her computer was powered on and she was entering words into a search engine. She hit the enter key and eagerly scoured every pixel on her screen for new information. _Son Goku was a martial artist and student of the Turtle School, renowned for his success during the 21st-23rd World Martial Arts Tournaments. He was the winner of the 23rd iteration, defeating runner-up Ma-_ blah, blah, blah. There was nothing she didn't already know here.

Videl frowned, alert to the fact that she would have to get up in seven hours. If she wanted to find something that would help answer her questions, she would have to dig deeper. She bit her fingernails as she thought about cornering Gohan tomorrow and making him answer her questions, but ultimately decided that was a bad idea. The last time she had jumped to conclusions about Gohan hadn't exactly gone to plan, after all.

She couldn't help but shake the feeling that she still owed him one for her inaction _that_ day, so, she reasoned as she refined her search, helping him move past the potential trauma of his father's death would go a long way towards paying off that debt.

It took at least ten minutes and she came across all kinds of interesting folk tales about the former champion - most peculiarly, about him taking down some kind of red army all by himself - before she stumbled across a documentary that seemed promising. As the video buffered, she read its description: _ZTV's Jimmy Firecracker sits down with the World Martial Arts Tournament Champions of days past and investigates how their lives have changed since lifting the gold belt_. Perfect.

She skipped through the introduction and the first few champions until some of the fighters she recognised began to pop up: King Chappa, a legendary warrior with an afro that would make her father proud and Jackie Chun, a weirdo whose words were eccentric as his fists were powerful. Now certain that they were going through the fighters in chronological order, she skipped to the end of the Tien Shinhan's segment and waited for Goku's to begin.

A brief summary of his fighting style and cameos at the World Martial Arts Tournament ensued before finally, the camera faded to black. Except, when footage resumed, the name _Son Goku_ was not printed on the bottom left of the image. Instead, there was only a puzzling _Anonymous_.

Videl stared at her monitor, befuddled, before her eyebrows rose in realisation as a nonchalant woman with her hair tied in an all-too-familiar bun came into focus.

 _"_ _Unfortunately, at the time of recording this folks, Son Goku has been dead for two years,"_ said the interviewer, speaking powerfully into his microphone. _"Thankfully, Anonymous - a former opponent of his - has agreed to talk with us about him."_

The anchor's implication - that Chichi, of all people, had fought in a World Martial Arts Tournament - came as a shock to Videl. Instantly, any lingering thoughts of pushing off her _research_ to tomorrow disappeared.

 _"_ _Now for those of you at home who haven't studied your tourney history, Anonymous here just so happens to be Goku's widow,"_ said Jimmy, with a hint of a smirk on his face. _"Of course, in a first for the World Martial Arts Tournament - which, believe me, is no mean feat - Son Goku famously proposed to Anonymous, otherwise known as Chichi, just moments after knocking her out. The pair had a happy marriage and two children together."_

 _"_ _Actually, I was pregnant with my youngest when Goku passed,"_ Chichi interrupted.

 _"_ _I see,"_ said the interviewer as he pushed the bridge of his glasses higher up his nose. _"So what can you tell us about your lives after that famous tournament which, of course, Goku went on to win? Rumour has it Goku swapped fighting for farming!"_

 _"_ _I'm afraid not,"_ said Chichi with a smile about her. Videl admired the way she could talk about her late husband without faltering. _"Although he decided to move on from participating in tournaments, fighting remained a very big part of the person he was 'till his last day. The years were kind to the two of us; we settled in the countryside, where Goku had grown up, and started a family."_

 _"_ _Interesting,"_ murmured Jimmy. _"Is there any sentiment within the household attached to perhaps following in Goku's footsteps between your two boys?"_

 _"_ _I don't think so. I want the boys to make Goku proud by knuckling down and studying hard to find success,"_ said Chichi. _"I want better for them, instead of resigning them to a life where they'll be counting how many teeth they still have in their mouth by age twenty."_

 _"_ _I apologise if I'm speaking out of turn, but given that it's my job to ask the difficult questions — have you fallen out of love with martial arts?"_ asked the well-renowned interviewer. _"Are Goku's accomplishments any less impressive now that his belt's had time to tarnish?"_

Chichi huffed at the veiled suggestion. _"I'm not some hussy who married my husband for his accomplishments. I married him because I love him. Just because I want more for my children does not mean I've forgotten how incredible Goku and all his achievements are."_

 _"_ _Well, that's a resounding no, folks,"_ said Jimmy as he turned to face the camera. _"So there you have it. How's monkey-tailed, pot-bellied Goku holding up fifteen years later? Gone, but still remembered fondly and sorely missed by those he left behind."_

The video drew to a close, paying homage to all the tournament champions in a montage pieced together from footage of their fights. Her father wasn't included because the segment itself had been produced to build up anticipation for the tournament he would go on to win, after the tournament had finally come back from a long hiatus following Goku and Majunior's stage-annihilating final.

Videl rubbed her eyes as she tried to process what she had just seen. In looking for definitive proof for a link between Son Goku and her classmate, she'd gotten more than she had bargained for.

The question that remained on her mind as she tossed and turned in her bed that night, unable to get the sleep she so desperately needed, was why Gohan had chosen not to even _mention_ anything about his father as he battled a terrifying pterodactyl on the television in front of them.

…

 **This chapter was brought to by Kakarot Son.**

 **Team Dragon Star is a collaborative effort headed by different writers who work together to bring you stories like this one. If you would like to join the group, visit our forums and apply there. It presents a great opportunity to develop your own writing skills and join a community.**


	5. Chapter 5

Maybe he didn't know?

Maybe Goku and Chichi had kept their history with martial arts from their children? It explained why Gohan could still barely throw a punch and also why she hadn't heard a peep about Goku from him, but Videl didn't feel it was particularly plausible.

Gohan was too smart. As sheltered as he was, she refused to believe that he had never heard of Son Goku's exploits two decades ago. They were almost legendary. Sure, he hadn't been a celebrity or anything, but too many people knew about his victory against Demon King Piccolo or had heard about his eyebrow-raising tournament finals for it to have flown under the radar. Gohan was even named after a famous martial artist for God's sake; there was no way the kid who had managed perfect scores on all his entry exams hadn't made that connection yet.

Videl scrunched up her nose. There went that theory.

She blinked for a few seconds as she looked at her surroundings. The clock on the wall was slowly ticking towards its eschatological destination - half past three. Their History teacher was droning on about the key factors that culminated in some important event Videl couldn't bring herself to care any less about while students everywhere were slumped in their seats, looking at their phones, or staring at the walls in boredom.

The crimefighter was getting more and more tempted by the minute to pretend there was some kind of hostage situation so she could escape her dire predicament but in the end, it turned out she didn't have to.

The bell rang and suddenly dozens of students sat up a little straighter and started packing their things. Videl was one of them, firmly clasping all her books in her left hand as she prepared to bolt towards her locker until she felt a hand grab her shoulder.

"Slow down there," said Erasa. "What's going on with you today? I spent the entire class trying to make eye contact with you, but you didn't even notice!"

"Sorry," Videl shrugged. "I guess I've been a little stuck in my own world."

"What have you been thinking about?"

Videl glared at her friend half-heartedly. "Gohan, obviously."

"Sorry, I just wanted to hear you say it." Erasa grinned mischievously. "So what's up?"

Videl began to walk towards her locker as Erasa followed. "There's something strange going on with him. Okay, maybe he's not Saiyaman, but there's more to him than meets the eye."

"More than being a cute, sheltered dork, you mean?"

"Definitely," said Videl. "There's something about the way he behaves that I just can't put my finger on."

"Let me guess, it keeps you up a-"

A glare from Videl prevented the blonde schemester from finishing her sentence.

They continued to walk silently until they reached Videl's locker. Erasa pressed for a proper answer to her question. "So what's got you all hot and bothered today?" she asked. "I can't imagine that you're fretting over who you'll go to prom with, like the rest of us."

Videl put her books away and grabbed her bag. "I discovered something interesting about Gohan last night."

"You've got some dirt on Gohan?" Erasa questioned. "I guess all that time you spend hanging around real detectives down at the station isn't going to waste after all."

"Well, I don't know if you could call it _dirt_ ," said Videl, flinging her own locker shut before following Erasa to hers. "It's just a very important fact that he failed to mention to any of us."

"Wow, you sound annoyed," remarked Erasa. "Does he have a lot of booze tucked away somewhere in that mountain cave of his or something?"

"No, but his dad was a three-time World Martial Arts Tournament finalist. And a champion too!" exclaimed Videl as her frustration reached a boiling point. "Even his mum made it to the quarterfinals."

"Huh, who would have thought?" Erasa shrugged, rather nonplussed about the whole situation. "I wonder if that's where his parents met."

"He proposed to Chichi on the stage," Videl continued sourly. " _Son_ Goku. I can't believe I didn't see the connection sooner."

"Oh, didn't he win the one before your dad? The one against the green monster thing?" asked Erasa, perking up suddenly. Videl nodded, prompting Erasa to triumphantly exclaim, "See, I told you I paid attention to all those stupid fights you made me watch when we were kids!"

Erasa made a quick pit-stop at her locker to exchange her books for her school bag and a bottle of vitamin water.

"Do you think I'm getting suspicious over nothing again?" asked Videl as they made their way towards the school's front gates.

"Maybe," said Erasa before frowning a little. "I can see why you had that look on your face during History, though. If his parents are martial artists, why doesn't he know how to fight? And why hasn't he mentioned it during your self-defence classes? You'd think it would be relevant to the conversation, y'know."

"Exactly," replied Videl. "At first I thought that maybe he didn't know, or that he was embarrassed about it, but it just doesn't make sense no matter what angle I look at it from."

Once again, they walked side-by-side without a word until Erasa broke the silence a few minutes after they left school grounds. "What if Chichi didn't allow him to learn how to fight as a kid? I haven't met her in person, but she sounds like one of those mums that have their kids reading academic papers instead of bedtime stories."

"That makes sense," Videl admitted after a moment of thought. "I came to the same conclusion when I was thinking about why he seems so sheltered. His mum seems like a dominating personality, not that she's been rude to me though."

"Reminds me of someone else I know," quipped Erasa.

Videl lightly boxed Erasa on the arm. "So he wasn't allowed to fight like his dad when he was a kid and he just hasn't mustered up the courage to say anything about it yet? There has to be more to it than that."

"Maybe he didn't want to gloat," Erasa suggested. "If you could get away from the weight that your last name holds, the good and the bad, wouldn't you be kinda glad?"

"Hmmm…" Videl trailed off as she thought about her friend's question. "Point taken. Being my father's daughter has its perks, but it also means people care more about my last name than my first. Fame is a bit of a double-edged sword."

"So there you have it," said Erasa as she dusted her hands off each other. "Chichi didn't allow him to learn martial arts and he didn't tell us about his family's history with it because he didn't want the attention. Case closed."

Videl shook her head. "Still, if his father passed away - I'm assuming they were close because he doesn't seem to have many friends - wouldn't he want to honour him by learning how to fight like him?"

"I dunno," said Erasa. "I guess you'll just have to ask him. Can't blame him for not wanting to make you any more suspicious; poor kid's probably going to be scared of big cities for the rest of his life."

…

Gohan punched thin air not for the first time that day. His assailant ducked under his outstretched fist and half-hearted follow up with the efficiency of a well-oiled machine before forcing him to block a counter attack.

"Getting sloppy, are we Gohan?" asked Vegeta before taking the opportunity to crack a few knuckles. "I would hate to see how you fare in an actual fight."

"I'm holding my own, aren't I?" Gohan retorted. "I'm a little rusty, but I still step out to stretch my limbs from time to time."

Vegeta responded by planting a fist into Gohan's gut. He gave him no time to recover before he began raining blows onto the younger Saiyan.

Gohan stumbled back, his body racked with pain immediately. "Thanks for that," he remarked sarcastically. When he glanced upward, Vegeta was charging him again, fist coiled and arm cocked back. He batted the punch aside and countered with a quick jab to the prince's chest. Gohan's feelings of relief at making contact soon gave way to thoughts of Vegeta's next move as the pair resumed swapping blows.

While he really was holding his own, he could tell Vegeta was just toying with him. His instincts may have dulled, but even he could still tell when a warrior wasn't trying. He kept on the offensive, alternating between right hooks and left jabs. Some of his attacks connected, but Vegeta mostly dodged, occasionally striking back.

Eventually, Gohan could tell the elder Saiyan was growing tired of the fight. Without powering up, Vegeta sidestepped his next attack and followed with an elbow to his right shoulder.

The younger Saiyan stepped back, softening the blow but falling right into Vegeta's trap. He saw the right hook travelling towards his side, but couldn't avoid it. It connected and sent bolts of crackling agony coursing throughout his body.

God, it had been a while since he had been hit like that.

He groaned as Vegeta afforded him a blank stare and the chance to catch his breath. It was odd. He'd seen all sorts of emotions flash over Vegeta's face through the years, but this was the first time he could recall the Saiyan prince looking disappointed.

Gohan darted around the shorter man with a dizzying burst of speed, targeting his back, but he had to throw an arm out to block the elbow that Vegeta outstretched. The prince turned on his heel and delivered a fierce knee to his ribcage.

Gohan retreated, embarrassed as he nursed his aching ribs.

"Was I really that easy to read?" asked Gohan.

"I thought I told you that you're not toying around with some pesky little insect," said Vegeta, flared nostrils betraying his cool delivery. "You should call it quits before you get hurt. That Namekian should feel ashamed of himself."

Gohan sighed, knowing that he could do little else but allow the man's insults to drip off his body and onto the hard floor of the gravity chamber alongside several beads of sweat. "Let's just hope this was educational."

The half-blood expected a snort but was surprised to see Vegeta nod.

"Hopefully, the brat will now understand the true importance of proper technique," he said as he glared through the walls of the gravity chamber. Trunks could see them because of several cameras that Bulma had mounted around the room, but Vegeta had never been one to let something pesky like a sturdy wall get in his way.

After a few moments, the pair found themselves looking at a bewildered set of eyes so wide that they were in danger of falling out of their sockets.

"Woah, that was way cooler than watching Dad beat up a bunch of bots!" exclaimed Trunks. "And you're stronger than I thought, Gohan. You can totally beat up bad guys like Goten says."

"Thanks," the older halfbreed said with a frown. "I did beat Cell after all."

"Dad says he was just an overgrown cockroach," countered Trunks with a shrug.

Gohan raised an eyebrow as he looked in Vegeta's direction.

"Is it the boy's fault that he cannot fathom the extent of the power you wielded that day?" asked the prince.

Gohan sighed. "I suppose not."

...

Videl had to admit that she had more to go on than she'd first thought. It wasn't information strictly related to Gohan per se, but there was a surprising amount of content to be found that was centred around his father.

After her conversation with Erasa, she realised that she had come to a crossroads of sorts - a fork in the road as far as her investigation was concerned. She could either approach Gohan directly for answers to the questions that wouldn't stop pulsating through her mind, or she could do some quiet prodding on her own.

Given that she was an aspiring detective, she had a natural inclination towards the second option. The fact that she still felt a little ashamed of herself for hounding Gohan so much when she was convinced he was Saiyaman also made it clear that the latter was the more comfortable option for her.

So she found herself blowing the dust off an old whiteboard that had been lying at the back of her closet for years and began to plot out everything she knew about Son Goku, which was as good a starting point as any.

It was easy enough to pull up a video of an interview with both Goku and Krillin, a monk she'd watched fight with Goku before. They wore the same uniform and certainly had a rapport going between them. Did Gohan know Krillin too? If he did, would he mention that he saw the bald man in the tapes Videl had given him?

She shook her head in frustration when she realised that she had no way of knowing that he'd watched any more of those fights from old martial arts tournaments. He'd been dragging his feet ever since Videl had offered to teach him self-defence, after all.

She would have to dig deeper.

After that, public records were sparser. Newspaper clippings from the first tournament Goku had participated showed all the fighters and some pictures of the crowd. She decided to check anyone Goku had been seen with in the pictures and found a still of him next to another fighter from the tournament, Yamcha. Thanks to the numerous posters plastered all over Sharpner's bedroom walls, it was easy to recognise the _Titans'_ star batter. The unique scars on his face meant there was no mistaking it.

There wasn't anyone else in the picture that she could recognise. The only other thing that caught her attention was a woman with oddly coloured hair doing her best to focus on the camera and ignore the wandering eyes of an old man.

Her next stop was the pictures from the second tournament. Again, she could see Goku, Krillin and Yamcha grouped together - although the future baseball star was now wearing the same orange gi as the other two. The article that the picture was embedded in mentioned that Goku went on to fight in an incredibly competitive final, almost forcing Tien Shinhan into a stalemate. While that was hardly new information to Videl, she noted an interesting tidbit that mentioned the two had become friends after gaining a mutual appreciation for each other following the tournament's conclusion.

Perhaps she would have the most luck tracking down Tien. After all, how easy was it to blend in with a crowd when your forehead housed a third eye?

Pictures from the last tournament Goku fought in were few and far between. She knew who the eight fighters were in the finals off the top of her head. She decided maybe rewatching the tournament with her new perspective of the fighters would help, so Videl searched her tape collection for her copy of the tournament.

When she failed to locate the relevant cassette, she frowned for a moment or two before her eyes widened in realisation: she'd forgotten that she lent it to Gohan as part of the collection she had tasked him with studying.

She opened her laptop and found a video on the web which lacked the fanfare of the official tape, but had all the main fights. Once she had overcome the mild inconvenience, she grabbed her whiteboard and pressed 'play'.

Videl skimmed over the quarter-finals, taking a few moments to pay special attention to Goku's fight with _'Anonymous'_ given the discovery she had made the other day. She snickered a little at the fight's cheesy conclusion before turning her sights towards the main event, namely Goku's fight with Tien.

It was a little hard to avoid drawing comparisons between the way they fought and the way Saiyaman routinely rounded up criminals. The speed at which they were moving at, the techniques they were using…

She shook her head before refocusing on the video. Being hyper-focused on Saiyaman had led her astray before and besides, she had to pay close attention to the interaction between the previous tournament's two finalists.

That article seemed accurate, after all. The two appeared to be friendlier with each other for while their last bout was a desperate slog to emerge victorious, this one seemed to have a relaxed aura about it even though the level of skill on display was equivalent.

If she wanted to stretch things, that left her with three possible candidates to help her discover more about the elusive Son family: Krillin, Yamcha and Tien.

She wasn't sure who to go after first, mostly because she wasn't sure where to start when it came to locating any of them. She didn't know much about baseball and she didn't even know what Krillin and Tien had been up to since their last appearance at a World Martial Arts tournament. There was the possibility of using her police ties to obtain some information she could work with, but that seemed like an abuse of power.

 _'_ _Maybe Dad can help with this,'_ she thought to herself.

...

Yamcha flung his bat and helmet to the side and looked towards Puar. The game had been terribly boring and the ex-bandit couldn't help but notice the parallels between it and what his life had become recently: soulless and uninspired.

Sometimes he missed hanging out with his friends like back in the good old days, but that was neither here nor there now. Krillin and Bulma both had families of their own and Goku was likely up to his usual shenanigans in Other World.

Being a professional athlete when there was no-one in the entire stadium even remotely on his level was perhaps the most insipid thing he had settled for since he first met Puar all those years ago. It certainly paid the bills, though.

"How was the game, Yamcha?" Puar squeaked, the floating cat's voice rising a pitch on his name as always.

"We won. I decided to only hit a homer once today, for fairness," he explained. In some games, he hit a homer at every second opportunity but in others, he grounded out or popped the ball up when the _Titans_ had a lead to keep things equitable. He made his money and earned his fame, but the repetitiveness grew dull.

Everything had grown a bit dull, honestly.

Which is why it surprised him to hear his doorbell ring. The momentary surge of excitement that coursed through his body was stillborn, however, as he realised that it was probably just another supermodel whose name he wouldn't be able to bring himself to remember in the morning looking for a good time.

He grumbled as he made his way to the door, Puar hovering above him as if to make her disapproval even more obvious. She didn't agree with his actions, but she never judged him for them. She knew he was just trying to make the most of his situation.

Perhaps tonight would mark a turning point in his days of tepid debauchery. With how colourless things had been since he and Bulma broke things off, he was finally beginning to understand why Goku preferred to live in a remote house off somewhere in the wilderness.

He opened the door and blinked hard. Instead of the attractive temptress he had been expecting to see was a scrawny looking high-school student wearing an oversized white tee and biker shorts.

"Uhhh…" He took a few moments to collect his thoughts before speaking. "Hello?"

The girl immediately spoke to him, no greeting at all. "I'm Videl and I was wond-"

"Sorry kid, I don't do autographs anymore," he said before pausing. "And say, how'd you get past security anyway?"

There were a few security guards posted outside his house to keep his legions of adoring fans from troubling him. Yamcha didn't exactly need the security, but it kept him from being bothered and allowed him some privacy.

The serious expression on her face gave way to an embarrassed one as she looked towards the ground. "I kinda snuck in. I jumped the fence when he wasn't looking."

Yamcha considered the girl for a second time. She was pretty short, truth be told, and his fence was easily a few metres high. That was pretty impressive for a normal person when he considered that she did it all without being detected.

"I could have you arrested, y'know?" Yamcha said after a moment. Something in the girl's eyes told him that she didn't doubt it. She really was determined to meet him. "How about this? I show you my personal collection of balls, you pick something, I sign it, and you go on your merry way?"

She hesitated for a moment or two before agreeing. Yamcha's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but he invited her in nonetheless.

He sat her down in the room where he kept all his baseball junk. Championship winning bats, record-breaking balls, old jerseys - collectively, it would all easily be worth in excess of two billion zeni.

"So what's your favourite game?" he asked. Yamcha didn't make a habit of giving his stuff out, but he figured that he couldn't possibly put it to good use anyway. He felt that his baseball days wouldn't last for too much longer.

"Actually, I'm not here for an autograph or anything - in fact, I don't even know that much about baseball," said Videl. "I'm here-"

Yamcha sighed. "Kid, you're too young for me. And why are you trying to do this anyway? Go find someone who'll treat you right."

The adolescent was now beet red. She cleared her throat. "Thank you for that. I'm… umm… not here for _that_ either."

Yamcha smiled unabashedly at her. She didn't seem to have malicious intentions, but then again he had never been the best judge of character. "So what are you here for then?"

"Well, if you'd just let me finish I'd tell you," she said as irritation flashed across her features. He couldn't help but see a bit of Bulma in her even though they looked nothing alike.

She took his silence as her cue. "I've been trying to gather some information on Son Goku and I thought you'd be an excellent place to start."

Yamcha's eyes widened in surprise. "Son Goku, you say? What's gotten someone like you interested in a dead man?"

"It's for this project I'm doing," she replied. "I wanted to find out more about him, but he's not alive anymore and I can't find anything about any of his other friends."

Yamcha laughed nervously as he tried to determine exactly what was going on. "Isn't coming out all the way here to talk to me a little much for a high school research project? Don't most of you folks just plug questions into a search engine and call that a good day's work these days?"

"I'm really interested in this project, though," she said. "I've always had a passion for martial arts and Goku's been one of my heroes since I was a kid. Alongside Tien Shinhan, Krillin, and yourself, of course."

So she was a fan after all, just one that was more interested in his fighting days than his baseball ones. Unlike the others who had all had decent showings at each of the tournaments, Yamcha had only ever made it to the quarterfinals so people tended to focus on his baseball career.

"Well, what do you want to know?" he asked, figuring that as long as he left out the parts about thousand-foot-long eternal dragons and Super Saiyans answering a few questions wouldn't do any harm.

"What kind of person was he?"

"The best kind," said Yamcha after a few moments of thought. "He cared about doing right by those around him, about doing right by the world. He was the type to pick up an injured bird lying on the sidewalk and nurse it back to full health, if you know what I mean."

Videl nodded. "So people - his friends - liked his personality?"

Yamcha laughed loudly at that. "Well, it could get a little annoying if you were in the same room as him for too long - he had a heart of gold, yes, but he was never the sharpest tool in the shed - but yeah. We all loved him dearly."

"And was he a family man?" she asked next.

The ex-bandit paused and took a few moments to think about the question. "That's a difficult one. He loved his wife and son very much, but he was so incredibly passionate about martial arts that it felt like it isolated them sometimes. I can't say anything with certainty because I don't know myself, to be frank."

"I've heard that being truly dedicated to your craft sometimes comes at the cost of pushing away those close to you," Videl suggested as an explanation.

"Yeah, don't have to tell me twice," lamented Yamcha before the life suddenly sprang back into his eyes. "So what's your craft anyway, kid? I can tell you're in high school, but what do you want to be? A journalist?"

"Nah, I hate journalists," muttered Videl, much to Yamcha's confusion before she answered, "a detective."

"You mean like for the police?" he asked and she nodded in response. Yamcha wolf-whistled. "I can't say I've met too many people with that ambition, at least after they understand what following through with it entails."

"What can I say?" Videl shrugged. "I like solving mysteries."

Yamcha chuckled nervously. "Wait, I'm not like under investigation or anything, am I?"

"No, nothing like that," said Videl. "I'm not even a real cop… yet."

"What do you mean by ' _real_ cop?'" asked the perplexed baseball superstar.

"I help the police deal with petty thugs and crooks around my city," explained Videl.

"Oh, that's umm nice," stammered Yamcha as his eyes narrowed. "Which city?"

"Satan City," Videl said with an odd look on her face. "I flew here by my jet-copter."

Yamcha's eyebrows rose curiously. What kind of teenager could afford a jet-copter?

"Sorry, I didn't, uhh, catch your last name before," said Yamcha as a look of realisation began to dawn on his face.

In the end, she didn't really even need to say it.

"Satan. Videl Satan."

...

 **This chapter was brought to you by Kakarot Son and DarkVoid116.**

 **Team Dragon Star is a collaborative effort headed by different writers to bring you stories like this one.**


	6. Chapter 6

"I see," Yamcha said after a lengthy pause. "So what was it that you were after again? An autograph or something?"

"Huh?" Videl asked. "I told you: I'm interested in hearing more about Son Goku for the project I'm working on."

"I've said all I have to say," Yamcha responded. "Great guy, an even better martial artist. One of a kind."

"Is that all?" questioned Videl. Just moments ago the ex-bandit had been willing to divulge all sorts of information about his late friend but now she was getting the impression that he wanted to move on. And quickly.

"What more would you need for a school project?" asked Yamcha with a frown. "I get the feeling I've already said too much."

"Has this got something to do with who I am?" She bit down on her lip. "I get it. You like to keep to yourself but-"

"More your father than you," he admitted tentatively. He looked at her blankly. "It's best we end things here."

"Whatever he's done – believe me, I know just how thick-headed he can be - I'm sorry," she said. "Please…"

He shook his head apologetically. "Sorry kid, but I've done my bit. I'm sure you can ask your dad about Son Goku if he fascinates you that much."

"Whenever I do, all he does is launch into a tirade about how martial arts has been corrupted by con men who use fancy camera angles and lighting tricks!" Videl protested. "I really feel like I'm onto something here. Please tell me more. I'm at my wit's end."

"Typical," snorted Yamcha before shaking his head. "Anyway, it's getting late."

…

Gohan drummed his fingers on the dinner table, sitting across from his mother. She kept one eye on the stove to her left and another on Gohan as she made conversation with her eldest. Since he was well ahead on all his homework, he had come to the table a little earlier this evening.

"So, how's it going with Videl?" she asked.

Gohan rubbed the back of his neck and avoided eye contact. "It's going well. She hasn't caught on to anything yet," he said.

"Are you sure training is all you're doing?" Chichi asked sternly. She met his eyes with an intense glare.

"Y-yeah, what else would we be doing?" Gohan stuttered, surprised by his mother's sudden change in demeanour. She eyed him for a few seconds more before nodding, satisfied.

"Nothing. I was just checking," she said. Gohan raised an eyebrow but pushed the issue no further.

She stood and walked over to where her pot sat. The water inside bubbled as it boiled. She lifted her wooden spoon and began to stir.

"Answer me honestly. How do you feel about this girl?" Chichi asked.

Gohan shrugged. "She's alright," he responded. Chichi smiled.

"Just alright?" she pushed. She laid her spoon to rest next to the pot and returned to her seat.

"Yeah, I guess. Why?" Gohan asked.

"Please, Gohan. You can't hide these things from your own mother," she said. Gohan blankly stared back at her with a confused look. "There's obviously something going on between the two of you. Besides, I like her anyway."

Gohan blushed and nervously chuckled. "N-no Mum. It's not like that!" he assured her.

"If you say so. But a mother always knows, Gohan," she said, rising to her feet once more to continue her work at the stove.

"I mean, she is kinda good-looking, but that doesn't mean I like her," he defended. "I'm just doing this to protect my secrets, so we don't have to worry about all the attention we'd get if the cat were let out of the bag."

"Are you sure?" she asked, not glancing away from her stew.

Gohan was silent in response. No, he wasn't sure, but he knew whatever small attraction he felt to her would be fleeting. It would most definitely prove to be unrequited, so whatever Chichi saw between them was nonexistent.

"It's normal for you to be attracted to girls at your age, anyway," she chuckled. "I asked your father to marry me when we were twelve."

Gohan nodded. He had heard the story many times before.

"Whatever you're feeling is completely normal, Gohan," she said.

"I never said I felt anything," he protested. He watched his mother turn off the stove and carry the hefty pot to the table. She lifted the lid, allowing the steam to rise out and fill the room. His mouth watered at the smell.

"I might like her, but if your grades start slipping because you're distracted by some girl then you can say goodbye to those training sessions, mister," Chichi warned.

"They won't, Mum," he assured her. Chichi scooped the stew into a white bowl using a spoon and set it down. Gohan lifted the bowl in front of him and gathered his own helping.

"Good. Goten, dinner's ready!" she yelled into the other room.

"Coming, Mum!" a voice called back. Seconds later, Goten charged into the room and planted himself onto a chair. "Oh, boy, this looks good," he stated.

Before the Saiyan children began to devour their first helping, Chichi beamed at Gohan with pride. He returned the smile. Although he had ducked around the issue and tried his damnedest to avoid it, Chichi knew that her little boy was beginning to grow up. It almost brought a tear to her eye.

...

Videl's face flushed a tinge as she corrected Gohan's stance. By now, their rooftop training sessions had become apart of their weekly routine – twice before school and once afterwards on Wednesdays – but she was beginning to question whether they were even having an impact.

She couldn't help shake the feeling that everything Gohan had learnt could have been covered in a half-hour long session with a proper instructor. As it stood, a typical session consisted of Gohan failing to adequately replicate some basic technique while Videl gawked at the mountain-boy in hopes that if she stared hard enough, his chest would tear in two and all his secrets would spill forth onto the grimy asphalt terrace. Usually, the rest of lesson included all sorts of awkward contact as Videl tried to coax his lanky body into manoeuvring in the correct fashion.

She was getting better at masking her reaction to it, but it was the first time Videl had ever had such prolonged intimate contact with another person before. Erasa would laugh at her for clamming up every now and then because Gohan's stray forearm brushed her side in a funny way, but Videl couldn't help but find it exciting. Electrifying at times, even.

Contrary to her friend's claims, she didn't feel any particular attraction to Gohan. If she even had a type, he would most certainly not be it. Meek and quiet, studious and unathletic… everything about him was fundamentally different to her own self.

The most redeeming trait about her student was that he was a good person. A really good one. Even if she was convinced he was hiding something, it was obvious that his concern for others was heartfelt and authentic - almost to the point where it annoyed her.

If there was one thing she was jealous of, it wasn't his perfect exam scores or exemplary rapport with the teachers but his heart of gold.

"Uhhh… you were saying?" he asked awkwardly, snapping her away from her thoughts as the prolonged silence shattered.

"Yes, until you've honed your speed enough, it's best not to block with your arms cross…" she trailed off, unsure what was supposed to come out of her mouth next. A glance at her pupil indicated that he wasn't particularly interested in her explanation either. "Hey Gohan, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, why not?" He shrugged.

Videl prodded her fingers together. "Why are you so nice to people? Doesn't it get tiresome?"

"What do you mean?"

"How do you manage to always give people the benefit of the doubt?" she asked. "No matter how hard I try, I always end up lashing out or getting irritated at something."

"Well, being a good person doesn't mean you're not allowed to get frustrated at things," he said, diplomatically. "It just means that, in the end, you do the right thing."

"So how come you never seem to get frustrated?" asked Videl. "Everybody has to have a breaking point, so what makes you tick?"

The boy considered her words carefully for a few moments before answering.

"... When people aren't very nice to others."

She could have laughed but instead settled for a brisk sigh. "Figures. I don't know what I was expecting."

"I'm sorry," he said. "I just don't like to get mad when I can help it. It's not like it makes the problem go away."

"Yeah, but what if the problem was created by someone else?" she asked. How was she not meant to feel irritated that she had been stonewalled because of the sins of her father? "Is it wrong to get a little annoyed then?"

"Not at all," said Gohan before straightening up. "I have a question for you. Are you a person that does the right thing?"

She looked at him oddly. He was framing things like a toddler, as if good and bad were two sides to a dichotomy. "Uhh, I guess. I try to… most of the time."

"Most of the time?" he repeated. "Tha-"

She wilted. She couldn't help it. "There's something that I've been holding close to my chest, Gohan, and I just have to let it out. Alright?"

"Okay?" he said, his left brow cocked upward.

"I was there," she confessed. At his behest, she elaborated. "A few weeks back, when this all started. The day you got busted up... bad. I was there."

"Yeah, I know," he said with a grin that would do an innocent child proud. "You were the one who saved me from all those thugs, remember?"

Videl's fingers clutched at her gloved palms, beads of sweat lining the insides.

"No, I mean I was there _before_ ," she said. "Before you got hurt. I was watching. I sat and did nothing as they came at you - I was so eager to prove to the world that you were Saiyaman that I let them attack you."

"I see," he said as he considered her words for a few moments. He spoke with a sense of deliberate calm. "Thank you for telling me."

"I'll understand if you want nothing to do with me." Videl sniffled - she normally wasn't so weak, but she just couldn't help herself - as she looked to the ground in remorse. "Really, this whole training thing has just been about making myself feel better, feel less guilty."

"Why would I want that?" he asked nonchalantly. "These sessions have been great. I'm learning how to defend myself."

"You're not mad?" she asked in disbelief, turning to her side so Gohan would not see her rub at her eyelids. He shook his head. "Why not?"

"We all make mistakes," he said with conviction. "I can't blame you for the actions of those thugs or for hesitating in the heat of the moment. The Saiyaman thing is important to you - I get it - so it couldn't have been an easy decision to make. And you still saved me at the end of the day."

She nodded in acceptance of the explanation. "Do you still think I'm a good person?"

"Only you know the answer to that," he said sagely, "but for the record, yes. I do."

…

Gohan didn't sleep well that night. He tossed and turned in his bedsheets, unable to banish guilty thoughts from an idle mind.

He had never wanted to put Videl through all that.

Sure, he could see that most of the conflict in her bleary eyes was internal. Frustration that she had put a classmate in danger, guilt that she had kept it a secret and remorse that she could never undo it - all issues stemming from her own conscious choices, but choices that Gohan was at the epicentre of.

Her obsession with Saiyaman had driven her to wait an extra few seconds on that fateful day, and it was only now that Gohan began to realise that he had helped cultivate it by playing the Saiyaman game. Maybe if he had been upfront with her, or had a genuine conversation with her while donning the helmet she might have cooled off?

Of course, it didn't help that those thugs hadn't actually hurt him. He had. He'd assaulted himself, damaging his own body at breakneck speeds that humans couldn't comprehend. The difference between what the gang members might have done to a regular human and what he had done to himself was not purely academic.

He had never expected that keeping his identity a secret would prove so difficult. Between Videl's initial nosiness and now the firm prodding of his own conscience, he was beginning to wonder if it was really worth all the hassle.

All in all, he needed to clear his head.

"Wake up, squirt," he said as he nudged Goten awake. "I'm heading out for a bit of a workout. Figured you might want to join me."

"Huh?" muttered Goten. He rubbed the crust at the corners of his eyes away in a stupor before bouncing upright. "You mean it?"

"Of course I do," replied Gohan. "Now hurry up and get dressed. We might be able to squeeze in a pre-breakfast snack if we're back in time."

That was all the motivation the child needed. Seconds later, he had donned his fighting gi and was pushing his older brother out the front door.

"We're gonna train together!" he sang to himself as pumped his arms around in celebration.

"Wow, you're awfully… excited about this," remarked Gohan as he took the lead.

"I barely get to hang out with you these days," explained Goten. "You're always _super_ busy at school or with Mrs Bulma or something."

"Huh," said Gohan after a moment or two. "I guess you're right. I haven't been spending that much time at home lately."

"It's okay, though. I made lots of new friends with all the animals," said Goten as he perked up.

Gohan led his brother across a few mountains towards a clearing that his father had once used with him. He bent over a knee and began stretching.

"Aren't you going to warm up?" he asked Goten after a moment or two. "Your limbs will feel all stiff later."

"Right," said Goten as he held his arms by his sides and clenched his fists. A silver aura flared into existence and the boy disappeared from sight for a few seconds until he returned, panting. "There. All warm."

"That wasn't exactly what I had in mind," Gohan muttered to himself. He shrugged and powered up too. "Let's get started then."

…

 _Knock knock._

Yamcha opened the door only to let out an exasperated sigh. "What are you doing here, kid? I thought I told you to scram the other evening."

"I wasn't being entirely upfront with you back then," said Videl. "You were right to turn me away."

Yamcha reached for the door handle, preparing to deny her entrance. "Good now that that's settl-"

"It's about Son Gohan."

He perked up. "What about him… and how do you know that name?" It wasn't like Goku and Chichi had gone out of their way to publicise any information about their family since the pair had married and gone into recluse on Mount Paozu.

"We're friends. He goes to my high school," Videl revealed. "I'm worried about him, and was hoping you'd be able to help with my problem."

"Okay, I'm listening," Yamcha said, finally stepping aside and gesturing for her to come inside. "Why are you worried about the kid? And what was with the whole Goku front last time?"

He led her to the same room as last time and gestured for her to take a seat.

"I think he's repressing pent-up feelings about his dad's death. I think it's been it's been weighing on him," Videl explained.

Yamcha shot her a look almost as if to say that she would need to offer more than that.

"I've been teaching him how to fight," she expanded. "Nothing major, of course, but I figured he could benefit from learning how to throw a punch an-"

"Wait, _you're_ teaching _him_ how to fight?" Yamcha asked, enunciating every other word for emphasis. He rubbed his temples gingerly. Why couldn't he have answered the door to some aspiring actress that doubled as a model like usual?

"Yeah," she said slowly. "Is that funny to you?"

Realising that he was on eggshells, Yamcha elected to tiptoe. "It's just a little odd to someone like me who knew just how formidable a fighter Goku was."

"My dad won a World Tournament too," said Videl, crossing her arms at the same instant her eyes narrowed. "And besides, Gohan doesn't know how to fight."

"Yeah, you're right," said Yamcha. "His mother was never a big fan of all this. Sorry, carry on."

"I had him watch a few fights from the tournaments that took place before the whole thing got cancelled," Videl continued. "I think you might have featured in a few, but what I'm getting at is that we watched one of his father's fights and he didn't so much as bat an eyelid or say a word - even when his younger brother, Goten, popped out of nowhere."

"So basically, he's conveniently left out everything to do with his father since the beginning of these training sessions you've been having?" Yamcha winced.

"Yeah," said Videl. "I did some deep thinking on it and the only conclusion I was able to come to is that it would be too much for him to bring up, still. I remember I felt the same way about my mum for years, too."

"Given the way Goku died, I wouldn't be too surprised if he feels a little guilty," Yamcha admitted. He loved the kid but he had inherited his father's terrible habit of carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. "He's stupid like that sometimes. How do you want to help him?"

"I'd like to meet some family friends who knew Goku well but also know Gohan, if that's alright," said Videl. "Just to get a better picture of what he might be going through. I don't really have any leads to go on except for his friends from the World Tournament."

"I think I have just the person in mind," said Yamcha apprehensively. He was concerned for Gohan but somehow it didn't seem like a good idea to have Hercule Satan's daughter snooping around.

"Krillin?" she guessed.

"You've done your homework," he acknowledged. "I'll see if I can get in touch with him."

"Thank you," Videl said. "Can you jot down a number I can reach you at?" She offered him a thin green piece of paper and a pen, then stared expectantly. Once he'd written the requisite information for her, she bid her goodbyes and slinked out the front door. If he wasn't suspicious before of her, he certainly was now.

He quickly dialled a few digits on his phone, dreading what he had to relay even more when he got a pleased, "Yamcha?" on the other end.

"Hey, buddy, have I got something to tell you! I had a friend of yours here just now..."

…

Gohan's mind raced at a pace faster than his own body as he tore through the sky. Yamcha's words rang in his ears on loop, the only sound that could penetrate the howling of the fierce gales of wind on the way to Capsule Corp.

The bandit had promised to do his best to avoid revealing anything else to Videl but the damage was done. Krillin had already been drawn into this and if her tenacity in getting this far was anything to go by, Bulma was next. He figured that he could probably convince Krillin to do him a favour and refrain from arousing Videl's suspicions but he didn't have anywhere near as much faith in the Briefs. Vegeta would just need to say one wrong word and his house of cards would come tumbling down. And that wasn't even beginning to account for Trunks and his mischief!

"Calm down," Bulma said, when he finally arrived, as she sipped hot coffee from a mug. Like usual, there were bags under her eyes and her hair was a mess - along with her labcoat, all telltale signs that she had spent the past eighteen hours tinkering with something. "So this girl knows about Yamcha and Krillin, huh?"

"And obsessively watches videos of old martial arts tournaments," said Gohan as he put a hand to his forehead. His secret was gone. Once she figured out who his father was, how long would it take her to connect him to Saiyaman? He would have figured that she would probably keep that information to herself if he asked her to but he knew that she would most definitely be pissed once she discovered the extent of his deceit. There was no telling what she would do. "She has to know who dad is by now. First, she made me watch a video of him fighting some monster as a kid and now she's gone after Yam-"

"Relax, kiddo," said Bulma as she held out a hand to silence the boy. "Here, walk with me," she instructed as she took a few steps forward.

He followed her out of the living room and through the kitchen to her laboratory, eyeing anything and everything that flashed before his eyes in an attempt to make the silence that had enveloped between the two less awkward.

"I've got a gift for you," she said eventually, grabbing a small box from her desk and handing it to the Saiyan. "Something to take your mind off all this, even for just a moment or two."

"Oh," he said, taking the item out of the box. It was a black watch with a dull silver framing the edges of the face. "Thank you."

"I know you've got your undies in a knot over this girl but have you already forgotten the new watch I told you I was working on? The one that can function as both a ki suppressor and a Saiyaman suit?" asked Bulma incredulously. "Y'know, I'd have thought that you of all people would be a little more impressed by the marvellous feat of engineering that you're holding within your fingertips right now. You don't want to know how many watches I've had to waste. I even managed to squeeze in a few upgrades to your Saiyaman suit"

"No, I appreciate it," said Gohan, standing a little straighter. "I really do. It's just that this Videl situation is something I've never had to deal with before. I know it's not quite Cell or Frieza but it doesn't feel any less important."

"Oh Gohan," said Bulma with a shake of her head. "You're making me think back to when I was a teenager. Did anyone ever tell you that I spent the better part of an entire year and wasted millions of zeni trying to gather the Dragon Balls so I could wish for the perfect boyfriend?"

"No, I always figured that you just wanted to see if the legend was true," said Gohan. He couldn't quite see the relevance to his current dilemma but he was much too polite to say anything.

"Well, during that incredible year, I met Yamcha," said Bulma. "And it was incredible. I was swooning for him - head over heels - even though we were pretty different people in hindsight. I spent so much time worrying about my own appearance and other frivolous things to impress him, time that I ultimately wasted because, in the end, he wasn't the right person for me."

"What do you mean?" asked Gohan. "I keep telling everyone, Videl and I-"

"Just let me finish," said Bulma. "And besides, I have eyes - it's nothing to feel embarrassed about Gohan."

His shoulders slumped in reluctant acceptance of Bulma's words.

"There are two outcomes here. Either she never finds out about your secrets or she does," said Bulma. "I'm not going to judge your decision to keep secrets but the latter seems like the more likely scenario, by your own volition or her persistence. If she does care about you - as a friend, or maybe something more - than she will understand your decisions, Gohan. She might get mad at you but there's no point fretting about it because she will come around in the end if you're someone that matters to her. It's as simple as that, Gohan."

He sighed deeply. "I guess you're right. I think I'm almost as worried about her reaction to what I've done to protect my secret as I am worried about her finding out my secrets - nevermind the fact that I was Saiyaman, all along."

"It's a complicated situation," said Bulma, taking another sip from her coffee which had begun to go cold now. "There's no doubt about that but remember that you are your father's son. You can do stupid things but there's not a bad bone in your body."

 _'_ _I wish that were true,'_ thought Gohan who instead opted to offer the older woman a curt nod. Like usual, she was right for the most part but he couldn't help but feel she was looking at him like her would-be nephew as opposed to the lense Videl would scrutinise him through.

…

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